In Mortality
by lanita19
Summary: The world had made them too romanticized. He was a murderer, nothing more nothing less. Uryu was content to live in shadows. However, he must return to the world of the mortals once more to protect her precious gift. UryuxOrihime. Vampire fic. Slight AU.
1. World In My Eyes

Heeeey, welcome back to my fic. My account got hacked and things went weird. When I finally got back into my account I realized that I wanted to get back to perfecting my story. So, if you've read the chapters thus far, RE-READ THEM. There are a bunch of added scenes and dialogue. My fans rock.

If you've never read one of my multi chapter song fictions, let me explain how they work. The lyrics break up each scene. The name of each chapter is the name of the song, and the artist is at the very end of the chapter. I kicked off the chapter with one of my favorite songs, World In My Eyes by Depeche Mode. If you'd like to give it a listen, I suggest looking up the Cicada Edit of the song on YouTube. Aaaamazing.

Anyways, some disclaimery stuff…I OWN NOTHING BUT A SUITCASE OF HOPES AND DREAMS! BLEACH BELONGS TO ITS ORIGINAL AUTHOR.

_**Let me take you on a trip**_  
_**Around the world and back**_  
_**And you won't have to move**_  
_**You just sit still**_

September 3, 1787

"Uryu, is something troubling you," Soken Ishida asked his grandson. Uryu stared at the tips of his fingers where the arrow trembled with his every breath. He had to pass a final test before he could become a full-fledged Quincy. Uryu shook his head at his grandfather. "Your arrow must strike the target without a single drop of water touching it."

The pair stood beneath a canopy constructed of thatch and cloth and so did the target 100 yards away. Uryu could barely make out the tiny red circle through the torrential downpour seeping from the heavens above.

"Steady your hand, Uryu. Concentrate on every drop that falls until you can predict each new one." The instructions seemed so foreign. It would have been easier for his grandfather to ask him to pass his hand through the eye of a needle. "Your heart is beating louder than this storm. I can hear it from here. Focus yourself."

Uryu's mind flooded with images of failure. His own father had already disowned him for choosing the Quincy life over the life of a noble. But Uryu's destiny had been entwined with the Quincy's ever since his mother had been killed by one of those evil creatures. His arrow was one of anger and vengeance. Uryu had been too clouded by hatred to steady his nerves. He had trained for so long and been tested by so many high ranking Quincy's. The only test remaining was daunting, but he had to succeed for his departed mother, for his doubting father, and for his loyal grandfather.

"So much depends on my success, Grandfather. The pressure makes me uncertain of my abilities," Uryu admitted.

"You would not have made it to this test if your skills had not been approved by the Quincy's." Soken adjusted his tunic in the cold. They would both suffer a bout of pneumonia if Uryu didn't finish his task soon. He had already allowed his grandson an hour and Uryu had not moved from his attack stance with the string of the bow arched backward. "Feel the world rotating as it circles the Sun."

"Grandfather, this advice is not putting me at ease." Still, Uryu tried. He envisioned himself atop the Earth as it rotated and orbited. He looked up to follow a raindrop as it fell to the ground, then he would start on another until he started following two drops at a time and then three and then more. "What is the point of calculating when each drop will fall if I cannot stop them from falling?"

"Ah, but your heart has stopped racing, hasn't it?"

True, Uryu did feel at ease listening to the pitter patter of the rain and watching it drop, but he also knew that his arrow was too wide and would collect rain inevitably. This test had nothing to do with skill or practice; it had to do with blind luck. Uryu closed his eyes, still tuning into the light song of the storm. Then, as though he were releasing a deep breath, he released the arrow, sending it toward the target at breakneck speeds.

Uryu and Soken watched as the arrow pierced the center of the red target with a frightening accuracy. Together the men walked through the rain to inspect the arrow. Uryu retrieved it from the target and brought it closer to his eyes. "Grandfather, it's bone dry."

"Nicely done," he congratulated. Soken grinned wide at his young companion. "You realize, Uryu, that this test was not about avoiding the rain, right?" Uryu frowned at this. "Most contestants get so wrapped up in avoiding the rain that they miss the target. The Quincy's are only interested in a clear mind and an accurate shot. You've passed the final test, Uryu Ishida. I grant you the rank of Quincy. There are no more lessons I can impart to you."

_**Now let your mind do the walking**_  
_**And let my body do the talking**_  
_**Let me show you the world in my eyes**_

September 3, 1788

"Father! I am asking for your help!" Uryu begged, bleeding at Ryuken Ishida's feet.

Ryuken kicked his wounded son aside before crossing the room to the window. He could see Karakura in flames in the distance. The creatures had raided the town and even the army of Quincy's could not defeat them. Soon the Shinigami would arrive to succeed where the Quincy's had failed miserably. Soken and the others had been murdered by the creatures, only Uryu had survived but been badly wounded. "Did one of them bite you?" Ryuken asked, his eyes still watching the catastrophe.

Uryu thumbed the small holes where one of the creatures had sunk her white teeth into his gloved arm. His silence confirmed all of his father's suspicions.

"Do you know what this means?"

"Father!" Uryu called again in a voice that begged for his father to keep silent, but his father carried on anyway, painfully pointing out the obvious truths that haunted Uryu.

"They will hunt you down. Once one of them gets a taste for your blood, they all do. Unless it was the head of the clan. If he bites you, their venom assimilates with your blood and you become one of them. If this happens, Uryu, please take your life, lest you shame our family name further."

Uryu crawled about the marble floor, writhing in pain from the visceral wrenching he was feeling. He left bloody handprints everywhere he went before smearing them with his dragging knees.

"It's a shame, Uryu," Ryuken continued, "that on the anniversary of your admission into the Quincy clan you became the last remaining Quincy."

"You were once a Quincy too," Uryu spat through gritted teeth.

"It was a superfluous job seeing as the creatures outlived me. Only an immortal can truly have battle with another immortal. It's best that we leave the hunting to the Shinigami. My time is better spent making a success of myself while I'm still alive." Again, Ryuken kicked away his son who had been mercilessly gripping his ankles, staining his garments with sick blood. "I will not have a creature for a son!"

Uryu's body was rejecting the poison the creature had secreted into his young blood stream. He lurched like a sick animal, then released streams of toxic bile. Ryuken stepped back in disgust. "Father," he mumbled again with his insides dripping from his lips.

Ryuken dropped a knife a foot away from his son. "Do yourself a favor, Uryu, and do not disappoint the Ishida name further."

Uryu watched as his father left him to rot on the floor of the study with Karakura burning to the ground as a backdrop. He scrambled to grab hold of the knife and did not give a second thought to forcing it hard into his chest. The stinging of the blade, the pulsing of the creature's venom in his blood, and his body's dismissal of it all overwhelmed Uryu until blackness covered his eyes and he was no longer in the world of the mortals.

And it was the last time Uryu Ishida saw his father.

_**I'll take you to the highest mountain**_  
_**To the depths of the deepest sea**_  
_**And we won't need a map, believe me**_

September 3, 2010

"Orihime, promise me you'll make a cake or watch a movie when I leave. You can't do _nothing_ on your birthday!" Tatsuki pleaded as Orihime pushed her out of the apartment.

Orihime rolled her eyes with a somber smile painted on her lips. "Tatsuki, I'll be fine. I'll have plenty more birthdays. I might even celebrate this one later, but this is the first one I've had to celebrate without Sora and I'm just not in a party mood."

Tatsuki gave Orihime a quick hug before finally leaving, "I know you miss your brother, but you can't mourn forever. You've only got so long on this earth." Orihime hugged her back, still faking a smile. Her friend looked deep into Orihime's grey eyes one last time. "You sure you're gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, really. Have a good night, Tatsuki."

Tatsuki nodded and headed off into the night.

Orihime waited until Tatsuki's image faded into the darkness of the streets past her home, then locked her front door, and decided to take a quick walk. Karakura wasn't necessarily safe after hours, but the thought had never crossed her mind that night. She just wanted to be out of the house for a moment and to feel autumn breeze against her skin. She wanted to feel anything other than sadness for one moment.

She had not wandered terribly far from her home. If she squinted she could still make out the lights coming from her window and the flashing glow the television cast on her futon. Momentarily, Orihime lost herself in that tranquil picture, ignoring the shadow that had crept up behind her. The world felt like a calm heaven for a few fleeting moments.

Orihime had never taken notice of how romanticized her world had become through watching cinema. Pirates were no longer cut throats or murderers; they were jaunty adventurers. A princess could fall in love with a common thief and see past the fact that he stole to earn a living. And vampires were seductive and elegant creatures of the night that always inevitably fell in love with their beautiful victims. Until that night, she could have believed such processed lies for the rest of her life. Until those teeth sunk deep into her jugular vein.

He gave her no warning. He wasn't a grandiose sexual villain that would fulfill her most secret fantasies. Orihime could barely make out his face as she thrashed about in his clutches. She noticed his lanky stature and white clothing, his long hair and his eye patch, and though she couldn't list one other distinct characteristic about her attacker, she knew she would never forget his face.

Leaving her a souvenir, the beast etched a tiny number four into her wrist with his claw like nails, as if she would forget this very special 21st birthday.

_**Now let my body do the moving**_  
_**And let my hands do the soothing**_  
_**Let me show you the world in my eyes**_

"Who invited you, Quincy?" Kenpachi growled. The scent of Uryu's unique blood filled the Shinigami's head. Each vampire had a distinct sent according to their clan, but Uryu was special. He had been created by Yoruichi Shihoin long ago and therefore shared the same sweet smell as all those who were part of the clan. The Shihoin clan now belonged to Soifon, but only Yoruichi possessed the power within the clan to assimilate a person into their clan. So the Shihoin clan remained small. Uryu had been claimed as vengeance for Yoruichi's fallen friends. She knew the assimilation would cause the Quincy's great shame. Unfortunately, all she achieved was an immortal vampire hunter. Uryu used his immortality to his advantage and vowed to hunt vampires for all eternity.

Uryu pushed his glasses up his nose. Sadly, he had been transformed long after his eyesight had declined, and with no medical records or identification, lasik was not an option. "Human girl survives a vampire attack from an Espada; did you honestly think I wouldn't find out? Besides, I'm the one who brought her here."

"I'm trying to keep it quiet for now. I sensed the Espada in town too, then I followed your Reiatsu." The men were just outside an intensive care room at the Karakura Clinic. They had both snuck in without the physician on duty noticing, but there was still a strange presence that keep them uneasy. "You feel it too?"

"Honestly, I was hoping that Reiatsu belonged to you, but I knew it was too good to be true." Uryu sniffed the air. "It's not any blood I recognize. I believe I've felt this pressure before."

Kenpachi crouched in the open window, ready to jump out and return to the dark streets below. "I can trust you to keep her safe from the other clans?" Uryu nodded. "Good," Kenpachi said before exiting.

For a minute, Uryu was left alone with the girl. Her wrist had been bandaged up, just like so many of the other victims, except _they_ had all become creatures. Uryu had left her alone if only to hunt the Espada, but came back empty handed. He could have watched her for hours. After a century or two, all humans begin to look the same. From far away they all have the same attributes: they all live, they all bleed, and they all die. Only vampires escaped that fate. And now there was her. Something that looked human, with no fangs or power, but was undying. Her beauty had been lost on Uryu. He had seen a million girls with red hair, and pale skin, and grey eyes, and a heavy set chest. And just like all the others, he didn't know this girl's name.

Uryu left just before the door opened, allowing in another stranger.

"Orihime," the stranger whispered. "I know what did this to you. Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you again."

_**That's all there is**_  
_**Nothing more than you can feel now**_  
_**That's all there is**_

April 3, 2010

Kenpachi sat alone at the foot of his long dining table. The Kenpachi clan had been safe in Siberia for many centuries, but now it was time to hide.

Two years ago, the people of Siberia had become suspicious of the dark mansion on the cliff and the mysterious men who lived inside. There had been many unsolved murders. Every good vampire knows that when suspicion grows, the food levels drop. The clan had to be more careful in selecting prey. It was easy to pick off a vagrant or transient, but they didn't sustain them very well. Ikkaku, a younger member of the Kenpachi clan, had made mention of a place called Kusajishi, a district ran by a clan of vampires. It was supposed to be a sort of blood bank. There were many in existence. Blood banks kept reserves of blood from the homeless or the brain dead in hospitals and treated it to make it more nutritious. They also specialized in Donors, masochistic humans who willingly lent their blood to vampires in return for sexual acts.

But Kusajishi was different. They secretly collected young orphan girls from the streets, raised them to be healthy, and promised them work once they came of age. The girls were then sent to clans all over the world and treated as delicacies. This is how Yachiru came into Kenpachi's life.

She had been a special order. Kenpachi had requested something light and sweet. She arrived the next day. Yachiru wasn't even tall enough to come to his belt. Her hair was a light pink and her cheeks were rose colored. Had it not been for an overwhelming sense of shame, he would have drank the girl and left her corpse in the snow. In her eyes; however, the hope of all of humanity dangled. She genuinely thought she was on her way to a better life, so, from that day forward, Kenpachi vowed to give her one. He doted on her as he would a daughter. He dressed her and fed her and housed her in his lavish home. He trained her to fight and had hoped that one day she would go with him to free all of the girls in Kusajishi.

Yachiru had fallen ill that past summer. The doctor's weren't sure how long Yachiru had until the cancer finally killed her, but Kenapchi refused to let his surrogate daughter die this way. At the time, assimilating Yachiru into his clan was the smartest thing he could think of. If he could just preserve her, he would find a way to change her back, and the cancer would have died, and she could live happily as a mortal. However, assimilating a child was considered an atrocity among any vampire. There was no vampire code or rule book, but such an act was still unethical. Now radical activists were hunting his clan down to destroy Yachiru.

Yachiru's tiny voice awoke him from his sad and lonely trance. "Kenny…if I go back to being human, will you change with me?"

Kenpachi smiled for the first time since he had assimilated her. "Yachiru, there is nothing I would love more than to watch you grow up and die."

_**Let me put you on a ship**_  
_**On a long, long trip**_  
_**Your lips close to my lips**_

Orihime was determined not to let the attack destroy her spirit. She kept the whole ordeal under wraps at school. As far as anyone knew she cut herself on some broken glass when tossing out her recycling. There certainly wasn't a cannibalistic murderer lurking in Karakura town.

It would have been a hard fact for the town to swallow; the people of Karakura were used to community living. The police didn't get very many emergencies and the hospitals received more births than deaths. Orihime had spent her whole span of twenty-one years in town, never feeling in danger or peril. She knew every street and shop owner by name, and they all knew her.

That's why Urahara's Closet had come as such a shock.

The little vintage building sat between her favorite doughnut shop and the pet store. At first, she didn't see any reason to go in the small curio shop. She didn't need any knickknacks or novelty items. But she could always use a doughnut.

The door rang when she entered and old man Kindo looked up from the register. He was warm, friendly, with sweet eyes and wrinkles. Orihime knew him to give her an extra doughnut from time to time. He had never been seen without a smile.

"Oh, hello there, Orihime! I hope you're here to clean me out. I just put out fresh batches of the chocolate glazed and the maple."

"Just one for today, Mr. Kindo. Umm…" Orihime had her palms near the glass, but knew better than to touch it and leave prints for Mr. Kindo to polish. "How are the bear claws today?"

"They're fresh as ever. Let me grab you one."

Orihime could already feel her sweet tooth salivating. As she watched him retrieve the bear claw on the top of the pile, she asked, "Mr. Kindo, how long has that shop been next door?"

Kindo froze. His tired muscles went rigid. His eyes glazed over. "You mean the pet shop?"

Orihime shook her head. "No, Urahara's Closet."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, my dear." His tone was flat, almost lifeless.

"My mistake…" she said with a slight giggle.

At this, Mr. Kindo blinked and the cheeriness returned to his nature along with the color in his cheeks. "This one's on the house, Orihime. Enjoy the rest of your day."

_Weird_, she thought as she exited.

Deciding that the shop was now worthwhile to explore, Orihime dashed out of the shop to look in the window or Mr. Kindo's neighbor. She had never particularly had a pension for fairies, but something about the porcelain sprites in the window called to her. They had personalities, like little doll people. She pressed her hands against the glass and peered in at the tiny fairies, silently naming them to herself and making up wonderful stories about where they came from.

Past the display, the owner of the shop watched the girl.

She thought nothing of it until he beckoned for her to come in with a large wave. Orihime studied him for a quick moment. His hair was shaggy and sandy blonde, hiding beneath a straw cap. He had a strange, traditional appearance for someone who seemed so young. She entered the shop cautiously. The tiny bell above the door sounded when she came inside. Two children playing with a black cat and a stout, muscular man with a beard looked up from restocking the shelves. The man in the hat stood to meet her at the front of the shop. "Do you collect fairies?" he asked.

Orihime shook her head. With a mouthful of sweets, she replied, "Not really. I just thought those ones in the window were interesting."

"They're yours."

Orihime blushed at his offer. "For free?" she asked.

"Actually, I'd be much obliged if you could tell me how you got that scar on your wrist."

She quickly hid her arms behind her back. "Well, you see, I was tossing out the recyclables and-"

"-How you really got that scar," he interrupted.

A nervous pressure began to build in her. She had not told anyone about what really happened. The doctor at the Kurosaki clinic couldn't even tell her who brought her in after the attack. She begged the doctor to keep it all a secret and he agreed. He had not even mentioned it to his son who was a college-mate of Orihime's. Surely she wasn't going to divulge the information to a stranger. "I should really be going. Thank you for the offer though."

Orihime was rushing to the door when the man in the hat called, "Only an immortal could survive an Espada attack like that." Orihime stopped dead. "I see I've peaked your interest. Why don't you stay for a while?"

She spun around to follow the man back to a room at the corner of the store. The children and the bearded man remained, but the cat seemed to be following. The man with the hat allowed Orihime to enter what appeared to be a small dining room, then waited for the cat to enter before shutting the door behind all of them. He went through another door to retrieve a pot of tea then came back to where Orihime was nervously wrenching her hands.

The black cat stared at Orihime from her perch atop the dining room table. The man gestured at his teapot, "Yoruichi?"

The cat shook its head, "No thank you, Kisuke." Orihime gasped. "Yes, I talk," the cat said flatly. "I'm Yoruichi, and if you must know I am female. I'd rather not show my true form with so many Vampires trailing after you. If they found me along with you, they'd have a field day."

"So it was a vampire!" Orihime confirmed.

"Not entirely," the man began. "Yoruichi here is a Mystique. I am a Shinigami. That thing that attacked you was an Espada. That man who brought you to the clinic is a Quincy. While we are all immortal, and humans generalize us as _vampires_, we're all quite different." He instantly recognized her blank stare as confusion. "Maybe I should start from the beginning. My name is Kisuke Urahara. This shop sells what humans might call curios or antiques, but it's actually an occult supply shop for the immortal community, at least, the upstanding citizens of the immortal community. The friends you're attracting are the riff raff."

"I've never seen this shop before in my life. And Mr. Kindo-"

"Has had his mind adjusted to keep from letting out our secret. We're protected by a barrier I put up." Yoruichi licked one of her paws before continuing. "You can see the shop because _I_ wanted you to see it."

Orihime still sat flabbergasted in front of the pair. "Why don't you ask us what you want to know?" Urahara offered.

Orihime fought to keep her terror from overpowering her curiosity. If there were vampires, and if these creatures were somehow linked to them, she did not want to be attacked again. "I don't know where to start. I guess I want to know where you all came from," Orihime asked.

Urahara let out a deep sigh as though he were about to tell the history of the universe. Orihime listened intently as he spoke. "In the mid-14th century when the Black Death broke out in Europe, a doctor by the name of Mayuri Kurotsuchi was performing experiments on peasants, hoping to find a cure for the disease. To the best of his knowledge, he had succeeded. A nobleman named Genryusai Yamamoto had come down with the plague and sent for Kurotsuchi, but along his journey down the Silk Road, Kurotsuchi also contracted the disease. Yamamoto refused to take the cure until Kurotsuchi confirmed that it had cured Kurotsuchi himself. As far as anyone knew, it did cure Kurotsuchi, so the nobleman allowed him to administer the cure to anyone who could afford it."

"Of course, that meant only the nobles had access to the cure, which is why, like me, most of the original vampires are of noble decent or peasants," Yoruichi added.

Urahara continued, "No one knows just what Kurotsuchi used in his concoction, but the cure had only mutated the virus. It gave the victims a strange blood lust that caused them to become cannibalistic. The cells of the body became mutant. Cells that were needed for repairing the body worked at accelerated speeds, but others that were needed to progress the body in age became dormant, almost petrified. The victims no longer aged and could not be harmed. It could only be spread with direct blood to blood contact. At first, it spread from the victims biting people to try and eat them."

Yoruichi looked away when she mentioned, "My mouth was usually full of my own blood from chewing on my tongue. So it was easy for my blood to spread when I bit people. The original Vampires carry the non-mutated disease. That's why we were made clan leaders. We can spread the disease in its purest form, making it easier to infect others."

"From there it was only a matter of time until this mutant disease spread and mutated more until you have the modern day Vampire." Orihime's face hadn't moved during his whole story. It remained terrified. Urahara laughed a little. "Mystiques are Vampires who dedicated their lives to sorcery. Don't worry, 98 percent of the Mystiques I know are good guys. Shinigami's are born of Yamamoto's blood. They live in sects across the globe. They hunt Vampires. They have found a way to sustain life by drinking their own blood. I, myself, am retired from the hunt, but still quite immortal."

Yoruichi leapt down and met Orihime at her wrist. She nudged against Orihime's scar. "Espadas are Vampires that feed on Vampires. They can feed on humans but normally don't because their bite is instantly infectious to humans. If the human doesn't die, they will become an Espada. They don't like having to take too many weaklings into their ward, so they don't go around just biting a human without the intent to kill. It's safe to say the Espada attacked you for a snack. How you survived isn't really the miracle. The miracle is trying to figure out how you didn't mutate."

"Anything else?" Urahara asked.

"Of course!" Orihime spouted. "I feel like I have a million questions. But mostly, I just wanna know if I'm going to be safe."

"You have a lot of dangerous people following you," Yoruichi started, "but a lot of good people following you as well. That man who brought you in, his name is Uryu Ishida. There is no one safer on this planet. You can trust him."

Orihime frowned, "How can I trust you?"

Urahara shrugged, "I guess you can't really. But Uryu is a professional Vampire killer. His business is protecting humans."

_**All the islands in the ocean**_  
_**All the heavens in the motion**_  
_**Let me show you the world in my eyes**_

Avoiding nights like the plague, Orihime became a creature of the dawn, trying to squeeze as many things into hours of daylight with the attack still remaining a mystery to her friends. The porcelain fairies Urahara had supplied her were to be used as warning devices. The Mystiques created them to sound a sort of alarm when an immortal was near, which was why he kept them at the front of his store and far away from him. Orihime had planted one in her kitchen, her bathroom, her bedroom. her living room, her patio, and in her purse. In the three days she had kept them, they had never sounded.

Orihime basked in the glow of the sun on her porch that afternoon. She had just finished a filling lunch and was about to study for her history exam. The fairy sitting on her deck had black hair and red wings. His face was covered by a camel colored veil. His eyes were stern and unyielding. Orihime had named him Tsubaki.

Just as her eyes had fluttered shut to send her into the world of sleep, a voice called to her, "Get up! Move! Move!" Orihime's instincts told her not to look at the door or the street below, but to look at the figurine on the railing. His wings batted about until he took flight. His lithe body came to a hover just over Orihime's nose. "Something's coming! Get in the house!"

"How far away is it?" Orihime asked with a wavering tone in her voice. She knew better than to doubt a talking curio after what she'd been through.

"Close! Get inside and lock the doors!"

Orihime stumbled inside, locking the screen and door behind her. Inside, the other fairies were already in a fury. They called to her to lock the other doors and windows. They told her to arm herself and hide. She had never fully realized just how many entryways there were in her house until she had to lock all of them. There were two windows in her bedroom, one in her bathroom, two in her living room, plus the kitchen and the front door. Orihime armed herself with the only item in her house that could be conceived as a weapon, a butcher knife from her cutlery drawer. She crawled under her futon in the living room and waited.

"What do I do now?" Orihime whispered.

The fairies all hushed her in unison.

_Ding dong_. She had not expected her attacker to be so formal. Lily, her fairy with pink hair and goggles, flitted over to the door to look through the peephole and assess the severity of the situation. "It's the Quincy," she said.

Orihime wiggled out from under the futon. She was cautious as she approached the door. "Be careful!" Tsubaki hissed.

While she knew she couldn't fully trust anyone, Urahara's advice still reached her. He said she could trust the Quincy and that he had found her the day she had been attacked. She had to know if that all was true. Orihime unlocked the door and opened it just enough to peek at the gentleman.

To say that he wasn't what she expected would be an understatement. She expected him to be freakishly pale with veins like a road map. However, a part of her expected him to be sparkly. The scariest part was that he wasn't any of the above. He was pale, but no more than she was. His hair was jet black, but cut in a current trend, a precise a-line. He wore glasses and had blue eyes beneath them. His muscles and face were lean and chiseled; nothing spectacular that could crush buildings or break femurs. It frightened her to know how normal these immortals could look. The Quincy donned a pair of slim black slacks, casual dress shoes, and a white collared shirt. "May I come in?" he asked. He didn't have an archaic Transylvanian accent or a smooth aristocratic ton. While he sounded educated and mature, it was nothing to be celebrated.

Orihime stepped back, allowing him access to her house. He entered quietly and did not look around her house. To the Quincy, all human dwellings were the same: they had the utilitarian devices that all humans required and were then decorated to the owner's delight. He did, nevertheless; recognize the fairies. She wasn't the first to own the set. Many humans of worth to humankind had been protected by the fairies.

"I take it you've already spoke to Yoruichi and Urahara." Orihime nodded nervously. "They must not know anything more than I do or I would have heard rumors by now." He stopped before the futon, "May I sit down?" She nodded. "Did Urahara and his talking cat get this kind of response out of you?"

"In all fairness, I came to them of my own will. I thought you were an attacker."

The Quincy flicked at one of the fairies buzzing about his ear. "I assure you, I'm not going to hurt you." Seeming to respond to his announcement as though it were the only truth they knew, the fairies returned to their posts. "Those fairies aren't perfect. They respond to changes in Reiatsu, but they can't really trace who it comes from. They will work just fine for your safety, but I might be of more service to your protection." Orihime was still studying him from across the room. "My name is Uryu Ishida. I have come to offer myself as a guard in return for your cooperation while I investigate your…unique condition."

"Reiatsu? Is that how you traced me here?" Orihime asked, ignoring his offer.

"All things, human or immortal have a type of aura. That ominous feeling you get when you know someone is looking at you, that is the subconscious projection of Reiatsu. Those who can set themselves aside from the daily clamor of life can pinpoint the variances of Reiatsu in beings. When you're involved in a tense argument, that's Reiatsu, when you have a good feeling about how a day will turn out, that's Reiatsu. It's nothing more than a visceral hunch that immortals use to identify all things on this planet." Uryu could see he had confused the poor girl. "Look at me, do you sense my Reiatsu?

Admittedly, she did feel tense, as though he would strike out at her at any minute. But she also felt safe.

"That unique mixture of slight terror and a trustworthy calm is my unique imprint your subconscious has created for me, my Reiatsu. And yes, that is how I found you." Orihime tried to hone in on the feeling, but it escaped her. She became too comfortable with that feeling and couldn't separate it out anymore. "Don't worry, you don't need to be an expert. For now the fairies will do. Besides, I mostly followed the scent of your blood."

"Nine days ago I was completely normal," Orihime murmured.

"You still are. Your Reiatsu is strong like an immortal, but still distinctly human. The only reason anyone is taking notice of you now is because of your resilience to Espada venom. They've already entered the city and are looking for you. So long as you stay in the company of a higher Reiatsu, yours will be masked." Uryu closed his eyes as though he were sensing something painful in the air surrounding him. "There's something else in this city that's overpowering your Reiatsu. Luckily for us, it hasn't come out of the shadows as an opponent." Uryu closed his eyes again. "In fact, whoever it is, is heading for your house right now."

The fairies seemed to spark to life again just as Uryu had announced the incoming visitor. Orihime's blood began to race instantly. She looked to her protector with eager eyes. "What should I do?"

"Stay calm, if it is an immortal than it no doubt senses I am here, and it wouldn't dare attack me," Uryu stated with confidence. "Besides, I sensed this presence at the clinic the night I rescued you. If it wanted to hurt you, it would have attacked you then."

Soon, there was a knock at the door, followed by a calling from a familiar voice. "Orihime, it's Ichigo." Uryu could feel a great tremor in Orihime's Reiatsu. It fluttered in strange waves, as if she were relieved and scared all over again. She opened the door without a second thought while Uryu prepared himself for a fight. He immediately sized up the red-headed boy at the door. He was muscular for a human and tall, but it didn't do much to intimidate the Quincy. What frightened him more was the way Orihime became putty in this man's presence. "Sorry," Ichigo said, noticing the guest in the apartment, "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Oh, no, of course not. Ichigo, this is…um…" Orihime stuttered.

Uryu stepped in to grab and shake Ichigo's hand. "I'm Uryu Ishida, pleased to meet you. I'm a part of a study abroad program with my university. Miss Orihime was kind enough to open her home to me during my stay."

Uryu took note of the instant tension surrounding Ichigo. It was plain to him that Ichigo did not care for him staying with Orihime. Uryu could feel Ichigo's eyes running him over again and again. "I see. I just stopped by to see if you were going to Tatsuki's victory party tonight?"

"Victory party?" Orihime asked.

"Yes, she had her regional tournament this morning and placed first. She's throwing a party tonight. I was thinking I could walk you over since…since…" his voice trailed off.

Without even giving second thought to Uryu's permission, Orihime responded with a bounding, "Oh, I'd love to!"

"Miss Orihime, I don't think-"

"Oh, Uryu," Orihime interrupted, "I know you're not used to parties in Transylvania, but here we tend to enjoy ourselves from time to time. It's also very rude to the host to turn down an invitation. Why don't you join us tonight?"

_**That's all there is**_  
_**Nothing more than you can touch now**_  
_**That's all there is**_  
_**Let me show you the world in my eyes**_

-Depeche Mode

Thank you for taking a chance on this story. I'll be updating soon.


	2. End Transmission

Hopefully that chapter piqued your interest just enough to get you here. Introductory chapters are always so hard. I apologize. But here is chapter 2, hot and ready for you.

_**Pull the top down, use your knees to drive**_  
_**I'll make it worth your while just let me taste the sky**_  
_**You pressed your mouth on mine and fed me a star**_  
_**Then said, "We never can truly know who we are"**_  
_**Know who we are**_

"Coffins?" Orihime asked, continuing her endless quiz while Uryu sat against the futon with his head tilted back in boredom. They had been at it for hours. He understood her curiosity and even encouraged it, but having to justify all the silly things that movies made him out to be got annoying after a while, no matter how many times he had done it.

"You don't see a coffin in my night bag, do you? Daylight does not bother us, nor do crosses or garlic, although it does give me heartburn." He smiled to himself. After many decades, that joke never got old.

Orihime kept pacing as though she were a cop in an interrogation room. "What kills you then?"

"Because our cells regenerate so fast, the only way to kill us to drain our blood, stop our heart, and kill our brain within a very short amount of time. In theory, the only way to kill us is to shut down the power supply to our cells before they get a chance to heal us. The most common way is to dismember the body. It's not a simple task. This is why if you did intend to kill an immortal, you'd need to do it in a group. That's why the Shinigami travel in squads." Uryu motioned to his pack where his bow was kept. "The arrows I use have a special neurotoxin that I've perfected over the years. It shuts down the brain for a five minute span, during which I have to sever the spine, remove the heart, and dismember the body."

Her face cringed in response. "Fangs?"

"Evolution took care of that problem. While our canines are genetically sharper than a standard pair, so long as we are feeding regularly, they do not grow long. You can spot a malnourished vampire by the length of his canines. If he doesn't feed properly, his gum lines recede, and his teeth seem longer." Uryu lifted his lip to show her his teeth. They were white and surprisingly human looking. "As you can see, I tend to stay healthy."

"So you…kill people?"

That subject was a hard one for him to justify. To stay alive and hunt the vampires, he still had to feed. "I purchase provisions from Urahara. He's the most ethical vendor I can find. His entire stock comes from Donors. I occasionally prepare it with food. I still need vitamins and other nutrients. The bloodlust is just a symptom of the virus all immortals carry."

Orihime finally took a seat on the carpet in the middle of the living room, mulling over all of the information. "What about super human strength and speed?"

"Orihime, I think you're still fixed on this idea that we were never human, that we're some sort of satanic demon. We're all just infected humans. We are stronger and faster than most humans because we have had a longer time frame to perfect our fighting ability."

"But what about the Mystiques?" Orihime questioned.

"They're simply well rounded alchemists. Magic does not exist, though they do like to make a spectacle when practicing their craft to make you believe differently." Uryu looked at the fairy sitting on the television set. It had finally become dormant after growing comfortable with Uryu's Reiatsu.

"How long can you last before you need to feed?"

"How long can a junkie last before he needs a fix?" Uryu quipped. "It depends on the person. Some have more willpower than others, but eventually they will get a hunger pain. And believe me; it's not as simple as a tummy growl."

"Does that mean if a person was strong enough, they could quit?"

Uryu vaguely remembered his last failed attempt to quit drinking blood. It did not end well. A small town in Italy was almost laid to waste in the wake of us gorging. "The body's survival instinct takes over in that case. Eventually, you start eating yourself to end the pain, which, unfortunately, just keeps infecting you."

"Last question," Orihime began, "how did you know my name when you found me?"

"It was on your chart when I took you to the clinic." Uryu stood and stretched his arms wide.

Orihime glanced at the little scars on his wrist. She had noticed long ago that he didn't have any bite marks on his neck. She wanted to reach out and touch them, to see if they were real. "I'm sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but do you miss being human?"

"That is a stupid question," he replied, rolling his blue eyes.

She waved her hands in front of her in embarrassment. The question sounded so much more logical in her brain. "Sorry, what I meant is, is mortality the only thing you miss from being human?" Again, he looked at her blankly. "Okay…then…what do you miss most?"

Uryu took a breath as if he were about to spew a list a mile long, but caught himself. His face twisted momentarily. "It's so strange. I was so quick to think you ignorant, but you're right you know. I hate all of it. I hate the people, I hate the politics, the greed, the general sinful nature of all things that we brush off as _human nature_. In fact, if I was cured tomorrow, the first thing I would do is take a knife to my heart."

"What about your family…don't you miss them?"

"I vaguely remember my mother. My father and I…we were bonded by blood alone, which now seems so disposable. My grandfather was the only person I really had. My friends were all acquaintances from the Quincy clan." He released a deep sigh. "Shouldn't you be readying yourself for this party?"

"I don't worry too much about how I look." Orihime shifted about for a second. She wondered how she appeared to him, did he find anything special about her, or was she just one of the millions of people he had come across in the past centuries.

"Even with your friend Ichigo?"

Orihime had an answer poised on her tongue. The notion that she had romantic interest in Ichigo had been on the table since high school, and she was always quick with the same response. "Naturally, after years spent with someone, you grow feelings for that person. But he's not…not…"

"The one?" Uryu interrupted.

"Exactly. I know it sounds silly. I know I blush when I'm around him. I know I'm physically attracted to him…I know I care for him…but I just have this notion that he's going to come across someone great, and I'm going to let him go without a drop of jealousy, and if I was really in love with him, that wouldn't be the case." She paused when she noticed how intently Uryu was watching her ramble. "Does that even make any sense?"

"On the contrary, I sympathize completely. I've watched plenty of women pass in out of my life, knowing it would be for the better."

It was the first time since she met Uryu that she felt any really connection to him. He had a strange discontent in his eyes that said: I want more…I just haven't found it. But a canyon came between them again when she realized that he had spent lifetimes looking for something more, and came up empty handed. She only had a few more decades. "So you've had girlfriends?"

The emotion in Uryu's eyes instantly dispersed and was replaced with his normal cold and blank stare. "We should start getting ready."

_**With the lights out and the night inside**_  
_**The broken radio was playing suicide**_  
_**I felt myself falling**_  
_**I confessed to you,**_  
_**"I saw a body"**_  
_**You said you'd seen a few**_

Ichigo glanced at his guest before knocking on Orihime's door. He felt completely strange bringing Rukia along after only having known her for a short amount of time. Worse, he felt stranger for keeping her identity a secret from Orihime. Rukia had broken into his father's clinic after tracking a vampire who had been looking for a quick fix. The pair had been completely silent at first; Ichigo wasn't even sure why he suspected anyone was down there in the first place. He watched the fight from the shadows. It was obvious that one of them, the one with an eye patch, had broken into the blood reserve and Rukia was trying to kill him.

"Are you going to use that strong Reiatsu of yours or not?" she had screamed. Ichigo wasn't sure what she spoke of, but he knew she was looking for his help. Acting quickly, he fumbled to unlock his father's supply closet and pulled out a handful of things that might slow down the thief: ether, halothane, isoflurane and other inhalants. "A mortal?" she gasped when she saw him. She quickly shook the notion away. Ichigo had also mistakenly pulled down a bottle of pentobarbital, a barbiturate that depresses the nervous system. As if she had handled anesthetic drugs before, Rukia grabbed the pentobarbital. She shouted for Ichigo to get her a needle. As she filled the needle well past a normal dosage with one hand, she held the vampire by his throat with the other.

"That will kill him!" Ichigo shouted.

"If only," Rukia mumbled before stabbing the needle into the vampire's jugular vein. The vampire squirmed before falling into a brain-dead state. Rukia immediately called for a scalpel and a bone saw.

Ichigo wasn't about to be an accessory to a gruesome murder. He refused to help Rukia any further. As they argued back and forth about dismembering the body that Ichigo was already convinced was beyond saving, the man recovered, adjusted his eye patch, and jumped out the window.

Ichigo let the whole matter go since Rukia had disappeared before the police arrived. The night Orihime had been attacked, Rukia appeared again, trying to take Orihime with her, but Ichigo stopped her. That's when Rukia told Ichigo about the world of the immortals and what was going on behind the scenes in Karakura Town. She explained to him that he had a strong Reiatsu and would make a good Shinigami. At the time, he just wanted to protect his friend. Rukia agreed if he allowed her to investigate the girl from a civilian standpoint. Inviting her to the party was the only thing he could think of doing.

Now, outside Orihime's front door, Ichigo mentioned, "Just try and act normal." The door crept open slowly, revealing a slightly disgruntled Orihime.

Behind the door, Orihime seemed to be batting away a dragonfly, squealing _Hinagiku, go away._ After she suppressed whatever she was dealing with, she allowed Ichigo and Rukia entry. The introductions went fine until Ichigo asked, "Where's your Transylvanian exchange student?"

"He's just finishing up in the bathroom. Rukia, Ichigo said you were his new neighbor?" Orihime asked.

"Yes." Rukia quickly inspected Orihime. Nothing about her seemed supernatural other than her Reiatsu, which was stronger than a standard mortals, but still much weaker than her own. It was almost impossible to sense Orihime's distinct Reiatsu with Ichigo in the room and the Quincy lurking nearby. She could sense Uryu, and more than that, she could smell his blood. She also noticed one of the Shun Shun Rikka fairies perched on top of Orihime's television set. The girl had to be aware of the immortal society by now.

"Orihime, I'm not sure if like that _thing_ in the bathroom," Uryu mentioned as he arrived, "I always feel as though it's watching me." Uryu stopped when he saw Rukia Kuchiki, a notorious lieutenant in a Shinigami squad and a descent of very ancient, very noble blood. He knew she recognized him. They caught gazes, immediately resuming the role of enemies. He should have been worried about the way the fairy in the bathroom sparked to life after the knock on the door. He knew he should have been worried after he smelled Kuchiki blood and sensed a stronger Reiatsu than Orihime's. But he ignored both.

"Ichigo tells me you're from Transylvania," Rukia said through gritted teeth, extending her hand. "I'm Rukia Kuchiki."

"Kuchiki? Isn't _that_ a Transylvanian name?" Uryu replied. He eyed Orihime, relaying the cryptic message that Rukia was an immortal. Orihime took the hint rather well, though she didn't know whether he meant Shinigami, Mystique, or something else. Either way, she could tell Uryu wasn't meeting this girl with friendly eyes, which meant she could possibly be an enemy. Still, it wasn't in Orihime's nature to write anyone off without giving them a chance.

Again, it frightened Orihime how normal the vampires were. Rukia was around Orihime's height and build, maybe a little straighter. She didn't wear some gothic looking choker with crosses and lace. She wasn't dressed in a black corset or trench coat. Rukia dressed in current fashion, a grey tunic top with black leggings and flats. Her hair wasn't long from years of collecting growth. Her black bob was stylish. Rukia really could have been Ichigo's neighbor.

"I'm afraid not, Uryu, my lineage is much more…_refined_. Orihime, did Ichigo tell you I'll be attending your school?" Rukia mentioned.

Uryu responded for Orihime, "He didn't last time we spoke. But I'm sure he's told you that I will also be attending the college."

Again, the two immortals were caught in an awkward glare. Orihime wondered if the strange tension she felt coming from them was their Reiatsu's clashing. Ichigo finally broke the ice, "Well, now that the introductions are out of the way, wanna head to Tatsuki's? I heard this party is supposed to be big, like half of the student body is gonna be there."

_**This night has only just begun**_  
_**If there's discretion that you've not abandoned**_  
_**Now's the time**_  
_**We'll burn to best the morning's son**_  
_**Go grab your bag**_  
_**I'll bring the gun**_  
_**The gun**_

The party was a spectacle of hormonal insanity. It was the first time Ichigo had seen so much skin; it was enough to send his post-adolescent mind in a tailspin. Girls whose name weren't even known to him approached him, scantily clad in strips of material they considered a dress, prepositioning sexual acts he'd never even heard of. Ichigo, along with a few other brave souls, set themselves apart as they only sober teenagers amongst the throngs of inebriation. He noticed his friends, Chad and Tatsuki, among the select few who opted not to partake in the festivities. They were lounging out on the balcony sipping from red plastic cups full of soda and water. Ichigo practically had to drag Rukia out to the deck.

Uryu stopped Orihime who was following the pair. He gestured to Tatsuki and Chad on the deck, "Who are they?"

"Those are my friends. Tatsuki, she's the one who invited us, and that's Chad, he's sort of got a thing for Tatsuki, but he's way shy," Orihime answered.

"I'm not interested in your college drama. They have fairly strong Reiatsus. It would seem that this town has been a breeding ground for immortals and special humans."

Orihime didn't know how she could hear Uryu's whispers under his breath with all of the loud music, but they continued to have a quiet conversation amongst all of the madness. "Uryu…who is Rukia?"

"Hmph, just a Shinigami errand girl. She's fairly strong, but she comes from one of the weakest squads in my opinion. However, her relation to the Kuchiki family keeps her a worthy adversary. I wouldn't upset her, lest you have to deal with her brother or her brother's squad."

"I wonder if Ichigo knows?" Orihime said to herself.

"Rukia isn't one to keep herself secret. Arrogance is the Kuchiki way. She's obviously using the boy to get closer to you. It would do you well to keep them both at a distance until we get this whole thing cleared up." Uryu shifted gears, ignoring the fact that they were discussing the immortal world in a very social surrounding. "Which reminds me, tomorrow we need to start examining you."

"_Examining?_ I'm not a lab rat. Besides, I have…we have school tomorrow."

Uryu rolled his eyes at the thought. He couldn't imagine attending a history class after having survived all the events that were being discussed. "Calm yourself, we only need a small amount of your blood for testing."

Before Orihime could protest again, Tatsuki almost tackled the girl in a friendly embrace. "Orihime! I'm so glad you came."

"Of course, Tatsuki. Congratulations on your victory." After Tatsuki released her, she pointed to Uryu. "This is my friend, Uryu, I hope you don't mind an extra guest."

Tatsuki shook her head, "Of course not! Besides, everyone else is bringing guests." Tatsuki nodded over at Rukia and Ichigo. "Have you met her? Totally strange. Are you guys hungry or thirsty? The kitchen's full."

"Orihime, I'm going to grab some water, are you thirsty?" Uryu asked. Suddenly, the meaning of the word thirsty took on a completely different dimension. Was he really thirst for water or was his body craving something different. He smirked a little, trying to act normal under the weight of their awkward silence and her wavering Reiatsu. Orihime noticed his teeth: normal.

Finally, she smiled back and shifted into party mode. "I'm fine. Thank you though." The girls watched him saunter off toward the bursting kitchen.

"So…_exchange_ _student_?" Tatsuki said with disbelief.

"I know, I know, it sounds sketchy. But having Uryu around has really opened my eyes to different…cultures."

"How did you even come across this program?"

Orihime kept a close eye on the kitchen to make sure Uryu wasn't getting himself in trouble. "It's a long story," was all she could say.

"Right, just like your mysterious injury and just like why you've been missing classes. Orihime…something's going on. Something's not right. I just thought we were close enough for you to tell me."

_Ding dong_.

"Who rings the doorbell at a party?" Tatsuki asked.

As the host went to answer the door, Uryu arrived to push Orihime behind him and mumbled, "I have a bad feeling. Stay close to me, Orihime."

Tatsuki came back with three guests. Orihime assumed they were all just random people from the campus that Tatsuki had invited, but Uryu knew better. "Orihime, they said they were friends of yours," Tatsuki said with an awkward smile. She then glanced back at the deck where Chad was beckoning for Tatsuki to join him again. "Hey, I'll be back. Introduce me when I get back."

Tatsuki left Orihime and Uryu with the strangers. The first was a man with wild rose colored hair pulled back into a pony tail. He had sunglasses perched on his head. If anyone was going to stand out as an immortal, it would be this gentleman. Though he tried to cover it up with his expensive eyewear and casual dress, the tribal tattoos that covered most of his person were a dead giveaway. He also towered over her in both height and muscle mass.

The other two were women. The first had long red hair and a generous amount of cleavage. In a normal world, anyone could have thought she and Orihime were sisters, but Uryu knew full well who the woman was. He could see past the silly outfit she had donned to try and fit in, a pink sequin halter dress with black pumps. The last woman was around Rukia's shape and size. Her outfit was much more modest than her comrade's. She wore a plain pair of jeans and a loose fitting baseball tee. Her hair was pulled back into a tight black bun.

The man and the smaller woman shot glances between a stern glare at Uryu and an inquisitive stare at Orihime. The redheaded woman came forward and embraced Uryu, pulling him into her large chest. "Uryu, darling!" she cried.

"Rangiku, what are you doing here?" Uryu asked.

"Oh, Uryu, you don't call, you don't write, we practically have to stalk you to keep track of what you're doing lately." Her voice was eloquent and dramatic like she had fallen out of a soap opera. "If you thought the Seireitei wouldn't find out about your interesting little friend, you're completely oblivious."

"I thought that was why we had Rukia."

The tattooed man stepped forward, "Ukitake isn't the only squad captain who wants to know more about the girl. Besides, isn't it strange how many high Reiatsus are lurking around this town?"

"Then why don't they do their own dirty work?" Uryu asked.

Rangiku sighed, "Don't you keep up on current events? The Seireitei was attacked by Espadas."

The smaller woman finally spoke, "My captain was murdered."

Orihime tapped Uryu on the shoulder, "Who are these people?"

Rangiku pulled Orihime out by the wrist. "Where are my manners? I'm Rangiku, this gentleman is Renji, and this is Momo. You must be Orihime the Undying that we've been hearing so much about. Tell me, sweetie, when do you plan on coming back to the Seireitei so we can have a look at you?"

"I was planning on taking her to see-" Uryu began.

"I've never agreed to any of this!" Orihime screamed. Her cry came at a lull in the music, making it seem more desperate than she intended. The whole party stopped to look at the red Orihime with her fists in tight balls. Her eyes were pink like they were about to cry. Orihime waited for the music to catch again so people would continue their dancing or their conversations before she asked, "Why don't you all just go back to your crypts and leave me alone?"

"Crypts? Uryu, what have you been telling her about us?" Rangiku joked, refusing to see the severity of Orihime's position.

"Listen, all of you, I'm not your cadaver. I don't care about your problems, and I don't care about you!" Orihime pushed past the crowd and escaped the party.

Uryu stopped anyone from going after her. "I think you've all forgotten that humans require patience. Give her time to consider things. We've had centuries to deal with this. She's only had a few days."

"She's one mortal," Renji said flatly. "I'm completely fine with capturing her for our own use if she will not come willingly. One mortal life weighs nothing compared to a cure for all of us. You of all people should know better than to put this girl ahead of the cure."

Uryu cast his eyes down to hide the conviction on his face, "I have great faith in this girl. I know we haven't seen it in quite some time, but she is a mortal of compassion. I know she will be the savior we have been looking for, but we must remain patient."

Rangiku was skeptic and it showed on her face. "I wouldn't get too attached, Uryu. The Seireitei has been on casual terms with you for quite some time, but if it comes down to _us or them_, we won't hesitate to dispatch of you."

"Are you personally threatening me, or just making threats on behalf of the Seireitei?" Uryu asked.

"Just quietly observing your behaviors and reminding you of the arrangement you've made with our time quite some time ago. We have a common enemy, aside from that, we _are_ rivals." Brushing past Uryu, she reminded him, "A common enemy, and that's it."

_**Keep the top down, use your knees to drive**_  
_**I'll hide these words**_  
_**They're only yours to find**_  
_**You pressed your mouth to mine and said they'd call us stars**_  
_**You said, "we never can truly know who we are"**_

Orihime took to the streets like a stray cat, wandering down every avenue, avoiding eye contact, pausing only to gaze at the moon and wonder why she was alive. She stopped at a light post on the edge of town. Her escape had taken her far from home and it would be a long walk to either her apartment or the party. She didn't have her purse; she couldn't take a bus. When she was sure that no one was around, she hugged the light post and wept. Her mind flashed images like a strobe light. She caught glimpses of all of things that had added up to her desperate state: the lowering of her brother's casket, the Espada attack, the day she met Urahara, the first time a fairy reacted, the day when Uryu came into her life…Then the images slowed down and she saw a young girl with orange hair playing in the snow, making tiny snow people. Orihime knew that girl was waiting for her brother, and when he came, they embraced and enjoyed the snow together. Orihime knew that the little girl was her, but she couldn't remember what they shared in common any more. Somehow that child was much more adjusted and put together than she was.

"You shouldn't cry alone," a deep voice told her, "it makes it much easier for us to track your Reiatsu." Orihime hadn't quite grasped the sixth sense that could feel for changes in Reiatsu around her, but she knew well enough that anyone using that word had to have been an immortal. When she looked up, there was a towering man standing above her. His hair was icy blue and so were his terrifying eyes. He wore slim black slacks, a black collared shirt, and a white blazer. The left arm of his blazer dangled in the breeze where there was no arm to fill the sleeve. Orihime wanted to scream, but the overwhelming fear rising in her stomach kept her silent. He pried her hands off of the post and studied the mark on her wrist left by the last Espada attack. "Hmm…Nnoitora can be so dramatic, but it does make it simpler for me to confirm which human I'm looking for."

"Who are you?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"I'm the Espada that's going to finish the job." Before Orihime could turn and run, the man had her arms pinned behind her back and his teeth were at her neck. Though she was just as scared as she was the first time, she was more coherent, enough so that she could remember the way his saliva stung when it made contact with the holes he was leaving in her neck. Maybe this was the toxin that Uryu spoke about, the toxin that made an Espada instantly infectious. This time, she tried to remain conscious. She wanted to have some information about how she survived this time. As she struggled and he drank, a long-fingered hand materialized at the bottom of his empty sleeve. Eventually, she could make out veins in his wrist and the tips of his fingernails.

Orihime's vision closed in like a collapsing cavern. With each passing moment, she wondered how much blood he could hold in his stomach and she could lose at the same time. Dutifully, her heart remained vigilant, creating more blood just as fast as the Espada drank it.

Maybe the villain had been too wrapped up in his euphoria to notice, or maybe he just wasn't a strong enough immortal, but somehow he let the strong shift in Reiatsu slip his mind. A blade that was much too heavy for its owner, passed through his abdomen and then back out. The power of Orihime's blood caused the wound to heal just as quickly as he had been punctured, but the toxin that coated the blade still stunned him badly. He released Orihime long enough for a small voice to cry, "Run!"

Orihime didn't even try regaining herself. She headed quickly back toward the more well lit streets. Her feet took her past closed markets and down tight alleys until they brought her to her own doorstep where only the porch light was on. She needed to inspect her wound, she needed to inspect her house, but most of all, she needed to let out a deep sigh of short lived relief, but it was stolen when noticed the pink haired girl at the bottom of her steps.

"You should wear a sports bra next time you head out alone, Boobies. You looked ridiculous running back here." Orihime couldn't blush or protest the insult. She could only stare in awe at the young girl dragging her blood stained sword behind her. "Don't worry, I'm not here to eat you."

_**This night has only just begun**_  
_**If there's discretion**_  
_**That you've not abandoned**_  
_**Now's the time**_  
_**We'll burn to best the morning's son**_  
_**Go grab your bag**_  
_**I'll bring the gun**_  
_**The gun**_

Orihime had spent most of the night with Yachiru, her young protector from earlier. Orihime had never had a younger sibling and Yachiru had never had a sister, but they took to one another like they had been kin for years. Even within her Shinigami squad, Yachiru stood out as the youngest and the only female, but Orihime accepted her for her tenacity, sincerity, and complete tactlessness. After hours of conversing about Yachiru's condition and title as an abomination and outcast, and after Orihime explained her previous attack and her ignorance of her own special ability, Orihime finally felt comfortable telling the little girl, "You don't have to call me Boobies anymore."

"The Seireitei is calling you _Orihime the Undying_," Yachiru mentioned.

"Who is the Seireitei?"

"It's the society of the Shinigami. My squad is one of the most powerful, and Kenny is the strongest captain around. He doesn't know I'm out here by myself though."

"Kenny? Is that your brother?" Orihime asked.

"No, he's my captain. I'm his lieutenant."

Orihime stared deep into Yachiru's eyes that seemed too wide for her tiny facial frame. She placed a palm on either of Yachiru's rosy cheeks. Yachiru wondered if this was what it was like to have a mom, to have someone touch you with consideration and look at you with empathy. "How could they have done this to you?" Orihime wondered aloud.

"Kenny saved me. I was…very sick," Yachiru mumbled. Orihime's hands were cold on her hot face. A common vampire misconception was that they were cold, but because their blood circulated and regenerated so well, they were often quite warm.

"You still are very sick, Yachiru. Even if you don't feel that way, you will miss so much. You won't get to go to dances or go to grown up films or drive a car."

"Who says I can't?" Yachiru screamed. "With experience, I can do all of those things!"

"The world will never see you as an adult. You could never be with a boy or go on a date."

"Don't be stupid. I wouldn't do those things anyway." Yachiru brushed Orihime away from her. "I came out here to protect you. The Espada all know about your blood. They will take you to Las Noches and you'll never come back."

Orihime rolled her eyes and groaned. "Let them take me…I don't care anymore. I'm tired of all of you. I don't want to be a guinea pig anymore."

"The Espada are killing innocent people, Orihime, and infecting even more. Don't you wanna help people?" she asked.

They were silent, caught in a deep gaze. Orihime struggled with her new found super powers. They came with a great responsibility she had been direly unprepared for. "Why me! Those girls at that party, do you think any of them have ever been asked to save the planet? I just wanna be 21!"

"And I just wanna be a kid!"

Before Orihime could try and justify any more of her ignorant reasoning, the front door crept open slowly. Uryu looked at Orihime sheepishly, knowing full well he had upset her. With his head bowed in shame, he pleaded, "Orihime, may I come in?"

Yachiru butted in front of Orihime to answer. She poked an accusing finger hard into Uryu's breast plate. "_You_ shouldn't have left her alone. She was caught by an Espada. Luckily, I was there to save her."

Ignoring the tiny beast, Orihime asked, "Are the others with you?"

"They are not my responsibility, only you are. I told them I would speak with you about going to the Seireitei, but I made no guarantees. Also…I told them…should you decide not to cooperate, I would still protect you from both them and the Espada…until it was safe for you to go back to your life."

_**Everything is burning bright**_  
_**Everyone was frightened**_  
_**You said stay strong**_  
_**Everybody knowing that what we'd invited**_  
_**Still remains when we're gone**_

Yachiru had been put to bed hours ago. Orihime wondered when this Kenny character would show up to retrieve her. She was on her back porch taking in the night air. The bite marks on her neck had closed up, leaving a set of tiny scabs on her throat. It was long past midnight, but dawn still seemed so far away. Insomnia haunted her. Uryu warily joined her on the porch to watch the moon. She didn't look at him. For once, she honestly sensed him coming to meet her long before he physically did. "…Thank you…for telling the others to give me space," she said.

Uryu reveled momentarily in the sincere gratitude in her voice. It was rare that people were honest and appreciative, but she seemed to be both about all things. "Of course. You are expendable and your lives are short," Orihime knew he was speaking of all humans in general but she still felt slighted. "…But…you _are_ fragile. Your psyches are easily wounded. Your time is minimal, so your moments need to be treated with delicacy." Orihime sensed tension again and she wondered if it was his Reiatsu or if it was because he had taken a step toward her during his speech. "However, I will admit, it was fun to be in my 20's again. Everyone wanted to meet me and talk to me. A couple of girls even offered to get me a drink."

"Well, you are attractive, Uryu," Orihime said candidly in a sweet voice. Uryu wasn't sure if he should blush or grin. It had been a long time since someone had earnestly complimented him. But she retreated as quickly as she came. "Uh, uh, I just meant that you don't stand out as much as you feel like you do."

"I just never thought about joining society like a normal person. It's too hard to explain why when everyone's growing up and getting married and having kids, I'm still 23."

"Would you be doing those things if you were mortal?" Orihime asked.

"Of course. I've never had a whole family to call my own. I rather enjoy the company of someone who genuinely understands and cares for me. Unfortunately, it's quite difficult to find someone who is…shall we say…my type. If she understands me, she's fleeting. If she's immortal, she doesn't understand me."

"But if you found the right girl, would you change her?"

Uryu glared at her in an almost offended way, as if she hadn't known a thing about him. "_Never_. My infection is my punishment and curse. Your youth and short time on this earth is your privilege."

"Uryu," Orihime began, "…I will go with you…to the Seireitei."

Uryu turned around to lean back against the railing. Gazing at the moon had become too nostalgic. "I'd rather you go out of realization that you would be a hero to a lot of people, not because you pitied my condition."

"It's not for you…I mean…I'd like to help you. You seem like a good person. But I think I would be doing it for Yachiru. So she could grow up and fall in love like a normal person and not have to worry about being stuck in the body of a child."

"Admirable." Uryu smiled inwardly, trying to imagine Kenpachi as a concerned father when Yachiru finally grew up and started dating. "Maybe it would be best to keep her young," he joked. "If only for the poor boy that has to meet her dad. I'm sure I would be such a father. Was yours that way, Orihime?"

"…My parents left my brother and me long ago." She could see Uryu begin to apologize, "But my brother was very protective. He would never let me go with any of the boys in high school. Except Ichigo and Chad. He didn't mind that I had those two as friends."

"They are good friends, Orihime. They care about you very much. It's rare to find such good comrades. Maybe I haven't any because I thought with how long I have to find someone, they should be immaculately perfect. Mortals have 100 years at most, so they see past flaws to find soul mates."

"Why do you worry about it so much?" Orihime inquired.

"I don't really. It's only now that I've been thinking about it. …Strange…" Uryu pushed himself off from the railing then headed back toward the door. "You should get some rest. Tomorrow, our ragtag caravan will be heading out to the Seireitei."

"Where is it?"

Uryu chuckled to himself, "If you had to hide hundreds of people who never got visibly older, where would you hide them?"

_**This night has only just begun**_  
_**If there's discretion**_  
_**That you've not abandoned**_  
_**Now's the time**_  
_**We'll burn to best the morning's son**_  
_**Go grab your bag**_  
_**I'll bring the gun**_

-AFI

DONE! Thanks again for reading.


	3. Not In Love

This is a very quick little flashback chapter that I added for the sake of the story line. I know you all want to get to the Uryu/Orihime lovin' so just bear with me or skip it. Love you! Also, you'll find that Nemu is slightly out of character in this chapter, but you'll see why later.

_**I saw your picture hangin' on the back of my door  
Won't give you my heart  
No one lives there anymore  
And we were lovers  
Now we can't be friends  
Fascination ends  
Here we go again**_

Fall 1962

The campus' Fall foliage was one of Uryu's favorite things that his father had left behind for him. His father had spent most of his life's work creating a college dedicated to the sciences, and what was left behind was the Ishida Institute of Medical Technology. This time of year, the leaves were beginning to take on different hues and would fall to line the edges of the cobblestone paths.

The world was shifting toward a love revolution and color and freedom was in the air. Still, Uryu preferred to wear a black turtleneck with his black jeans and his polished monkey boots. Mod, they called him, but it was the same style he had preferred for years. He didn't see a point in following the trends when they just kept changing. Certain types of clothing had carried throughout the years, and that's what he relied on to fill his closet.

Sadly, it wasn't the Fall semester that brought Uryu back to his father's school. There had been rumors in the Immortal society that a Shinigami had been teaching classes on campus. Whether or not the Shinigami had good intentions with sending one of their own out to his neck of the woods was yet to be seen. It still translated the same way to Uryu: there was a vampire loose where hundreds of innocent people were. A part of him felt as though he owed it to his father to check in on the situation.

Uryu could sense the presence of another Immortal upon entering the main research facility. His eyes caught frequently with many people passing through the halls, but no one stood out as one of his kind. He trespassed with great caution. Sensing Reiatsu's worked both ways. If he could sense them, they could, no doubt, sense him.

He hadn't let his mental guard down in the slightest, but his physical guard had been dropped when he passed by a janitorial closet just outside one of the labs. A hot hand pressed over his mouth and a strong arm pulled him into the tiny room. Quickly, the attacker went to work on restraining Uryu the best they could. They pinned his arms to the wall by jabbing a knife through each wrist and tacking it behind him. Then, they stretched thick tape over his mouth. Uryu could have easily broken the barricade, but figured they must have wanted to speak to him about something if they had gone through all the work of keeping him from speaking. If they wanted to kill him, they must have known that they would have to do better than only bringing tape and two knives.

The woman, his attacker, was slender, with lean muscle, and dark hair. She pushed her glasses up her nose before speaking, something Uryu wished he could do at the moment. "I'm Lieutenant Nanao Ise. The squad members posted in this area have been aware of your existence for quite some time, Quincy, and while we'd like to humbly extend our friendship and work together, we're not running that kind of operation at this time. I did, however, want to reassure you that we are working for the good of our kind and keeping the mortals safe. Your services are not needed here, Quincy, it would do you well to go home."

_**Cause it's cold outside, when you coming home  
Cause it's hot inside, isn't that enough**_

It wasn't like Uryu, not in the slightest, to keep to himself while Immortals were roaming his father's campus. Especially not after he had been threatened by a Lieutenant from the Seireitei. He had already snuck back onto the campus and was heading toward the Ishida Medical Lab in the west wing.

"Thank you Professor Kurotsuchi, I'll have my report in by the end of the week," a girl called behind her shoulder as she exited the lab.

Uryu felt a flush of Reiatsu when she opened the door, then it disappeared when the door shut. _Sekkiseki stone, interesting_, he thought. Uryu had been so wrapped up in trying to sneak a peek at the lab, he missed the black haired girl heading in his direction. He charged off without a second thought, smacking into the young woman and dropping her books to the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" she gasped.

"No, I wasn't looking. Let me help you." Uryu bent down to help her pick up her texts. They were mostly about blood pathogens and viruses. He could sense, very clearly, that she was mortal. He used the surprise meeting as a chance to pick up some information on what was going on behind the door. "Are you a medical student?"

"Umm…sort of. We're studying a few blood born viruses. I'm more interested in preventing sicknesses than I am in curing them." She was much shorter in stature than Uryu, barely coming up to his chest. She blew a puff of air up her face to clear her bangs out of her face.

"So…you're working on a vaccine? With Professor _Kurotsuchi_?" The name stung his tongue like venom.

"Yes, I'm one of his lab assistants. We're working along with Professors Matsumoto and Ise? Do you have any of their classes?"

Uryu had lived long enough to tell when someone was flirting with him. She was standing much too close for personal comfort, twirling her hair and blushing. It was almost too much to tolerate. "I'm actually a…prospective student. I would love to hear more about this vaccine you're working on though." Uryu mustered up a few of his more attractive traits to win her over. He all but batted his eyelids to keep her attention. He smirked, and beamed, and tossed his loose hair. She was falling right into his trap.

"It's really nothing anyone would be interested in, but I can tell you, it's gonna be really big."

"Like cancer?"

Their eyes locked. She was blushing again. She couldn't help but stutter, caught in his blue gaze. "I…uh…I probably would just bore you."

Dropping the V-word was against all Immortal laws, but sometimes it was a necessary evil. Even if she went running in the streets complaining about cannibals, not many would believe her and a real Immortal would put her to silence if she direly threatened the race. She obviously had been working closely with a group of Immortals and possibly on a vaccine. It was time to let the cat out of the box. "Like a vaccine for…_vampires_."

"Do you really…believe in all of that? Do you think there really are infected people out there?"

Nonchalantly, he shrugged, "I suppose. Or maybe I've been twenty three for centuries just out of boredom." They both laughed before it became awkward; she a skeptic believer and he a possible guinea pig. "I'm Uryu Ishida by the way."

She offered up her hand to his long fingers. "I'm Nemu…you wouldn't like to get…coffee or anything. We don't have to talk about vampires…we can just…talk."

_**I'm not in love**_

Spring 1963

Nemu had grown on him like a tumor. Every minute she was around him, she either wanted answers about vampires or sex. Sometimes one was easier to oblige than the other. Uryu had gone quite some time without a companion and Nemu was eager to fulfill his quiet needs and her own overactive sex drive.

As it turned out, the Seireitei was working on vaccines. Nemu wasn't quick to divulge the details right away, but after a few months, she was willing to admit that they had issued to a few versions of the vaccine to a few people, but they were all close friends of the Seireitei and local enough to keep tabs on. Uryu couldn't say he liked the idea too much, but he wasn't one to go full force after the Seireitei when they were only trying to help.

They were together in Nemu's dorm room, cuddling half-clothed beneath her blankets. Uryu was thinking about her case study files atop her dresser as she nestled into his chest. If he could get the names of the vaccinated humans, he could find out how close the lab was getting to curing the disease.

"Uryu…would you ever consider…assimilating me? I know that you need to be a clan leader, but maybe if you infected me we could…be together."

"Fighting the Espada?" he asked.

"Or just be together…forever."

Uryu shuffled up against the headrest. He was looking at Nemu down the tip of his nose as she wrapped herself up in his loose arm. "That's not how it works. One lifetime is enough to love someone." He didn't mean it as an admission of love, but rather good advice for the future.

"But your lifetime is so much longer than mine. Besides, once the professors and I find the cure-"

"Eh, eh, eh, you're working on a _vaccine_, not a _cure._ And what, once we've lived long enough together we can just cure ourselves and die?"

Nemu met his confused face, "Why would anyone not want to be immortal, Uryu. Think of all that could be achieved if people had a dozen lifetimes to get it done! Think of all of the medical advancements we'd have if the geniuses of our time didn't have to fall to age."

**_Could it be that time has taken its toll_**  
**_Won't take you so far, I am in control_**  
**_And we were lovers_**  
**_Now we can't be friends_**  
**_Fascination ends_**  
**_Here we go again_**

Summer 1963

It wasn't a flare in Reiatsu that woke Uryu from his sleep, but a bad feeling, a bad feeling stemming from the sound of sirens heading toward the school. He quickly noticed that his little bed partner was missing and so were all of her files. He leapt from the bed to grab a shirt from the floor. He didn't find a note or message explaining her sudden exit, which was very out of character for the girl who had spent every moment with him for last six months. Uryu used the community telephone to phone down to the lab.

_We're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected…_

Uryu didn't bother with shoes or coats before advancing on the lab, but he did pack his weapons and tranquilizers. There were a few canisters of neurotoxin missing from his pack. _Great, an irrational woman with a lethal liquid,_ Uryu thought.

As he flew down the halls of the dormitory wing toward the lab, students were poking their heads out of their rooms to see what all the commotion was about. Sirens and blue lights lit up the street for the last half hour and all seemed to be coming to the school. The closer Uryu came to the science wing, the more Reiatsu he could sense. Some mortal, some fading, some immortal. Just outside the main lobby, he sensed a strong presence by the receptionist desk. He looked behind the oak table to find the redheaded Professor Matsumoto resting on the floor with her hand over her chest.

"Are you a Shinigami?" Uryu asked her.

"A lieutenant if, you must know. That little bitch won't get away with this. The Seireitei won't let an incident like this get out of control." Professor Matsumoto shifted her weight, revealing a vial of neurotoxin stabbed into her side. "This is your fault you know. You wouldn't assimilate her, so she went to Kurotsuchi. He told her that you were only," she paused to pull out the bottle of fluid seeping into her hip, "using her to get the research. Pissed her right the hell off. She's been biting anything she could get her hands on in there for the last hour. Some idiot called the cops, but we'll handle this."

"So a Shinigami assimilates a mortal and it's my fault? And I'm not supposed to worry because the Shinigami are gonna cover it all up before the humans get wind of it?" Matsumoto tossed the bottle at Uryu in disgust. He dodged it quickly and laughed. "How is this my fault?"

"Nanao told you not to get involved with any of this. She was perfectly fine working under our thumb before you came along. She got all gaga over you and started begging us all to assimilate her…so she could be with you. You know as well as I do, we're not even to feign interest in humans because it could out all of us. The life of a vampire hunter is one of solitude." Matsumoto rolled over again to escape the pool of blood she had made. Her skin had already grown tough back over the wound. "Do yourself a favor and clean up your mess before she kills any more mortals."

Uryu didn't give the struggling Shinigami a second thought after entering the lab. Kurotsuchi and Nanao were both on the floor with shots in their torso. Nemu was across the room, knee deep in dead bodies, all drained of blood. Her face was drenched in thick red liquid. Uryu approached her slowly after assessing the situation. He put his hand out to the shaking girl.

"Make it stop, Uryu…I can't stop…I can't stop," Nemu mumbled with blood pouring out of her open mouth.

"Nemu, I'm going to help you, but I need you to take my hand, okay." Uryu spoke slowly.

Still trembling beyond control, she slapped at his hand to get a hold of him. As soon as she was within his grasp, he pulled her to his chest and gripped her tightly. In his mind, he went through the steps of taking down an Immortal:

_Stop the brain_.

While he had her in his arms, he silently reached for his side knife to pierce the base of her neck and rip down her back, tracing a deadly line through her spinal cord. Luckily, she was trusting enough to be baited directly to him, so he wouldn't have to tranquilize her to get her to stay still, making it severely painful for her.

_Stop the heart_.

He pulled out his side knife to replant it into her still beating heart. He used leverage to get the knife blade behind her heart and then push until he could feel it burst in her rib cage. It was a sound he was used to as a vampire hunter, but the metaphorical implications of breaking a girl's heart while literally breaking her heart made him cringe. He hated being so cold, so black and white.

_Drain the blood._

The next part was easy and fast. He stabbed the main arteries and severed as many veins as he could until there was a pool of at least three liters of blood at his feet. He felt like his father, stepping back in disgust in sight of infected blood.

It was easy, too easy, to kill the girl. She was just one more mortal who didn't understand his century old plight. Just another female disappointment.

_**Cause it's cold outside, when you coming home  
Cause it's hot inside, isn't that enough**_

Uryu took one last look at his temporary abode. His only suitcase was in his left hand and his right hand held tightly to his hunting tools. He wouldn't miss Karakura Town or his father's old school in the slightest.

His inner workings tingled when they sensed a familiar Shinigami approaching his doorstep. "Leaving so soon?" Nanao asked.

"You've got things covered here, right?"

"I'm sorry about what happened…with Nemu. Our research is useless without her. She was the only person willing to work with us with an extensive background in vaccinations."

Uryu shrugged at this. "The upside to being around this long is that we'll live to find another doctor. Medicine will only continue to advance."

"Still, it did set us back." Nanao retrieved a bundle of papers from her briefcase. Uryu noticed the pictures of children attached to the front of the files. "These are the two people who were injected with the vaccine we had come up with. The first baby, an Isshin Kurosaki, got the trial run. The one who received the best tested vaccine was still in the womb, but she's a woman and is due next week. We will be back when the children are of age to test more research. Thankfully the Kurosaki's are willing to work with us, the other seems reluctant to have her child tested on."

"Go figure," Uryu joked.

"Yes…well…I wanted you to have these, at least, _my_ captain wants you to have these. Kurotsuchi is still a little…resilient to work with you. He thinks the way in which you…took care of Nemu…was too-"

"Hasty?" he finished for her. "Consider it quick thinking. She could have leaked the immortal secret to the town."

"For what it's worth…_I'm _sorry it had to be this way."

_**I'm not in love  
We are not in love**_

_****-Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith  
_


	4. Song of Imaginary Beings

To my two reviewers:

Thank you so much for commenting on my story. Nypsy, it's about to lean toward IchiHimi BUT ONLY FOR A LITTLE BIT! I agree, watching Orihime pine after Ichigo all the time is A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G! But I want this to be true to the characters, which means, eventually, there's gonna be some IchiHime. But this is, after all, a IshiHime, which means it's about 'ma baby Uryu and Orihime. So fear not, any Ichigo crushing is strictly for character and plot development reasons. But there's a cute scene in here just for you :D

_**Her mother said that she couldn't love**_  
_**The physical way a woman should**_  
_**Then where else could she go?**_  
_**Where the sisters and the fathers can't save her soul**_

"Los Angeles? You're hiding a society of vampires in LA?" LAX, the international airport that kept a strong portion of America mobile, bustled to the brim, clashing cultures and classes in the mix. Since the party, Orihime looked at everyone like they could secretly be a vampire threat.

Orihime noticed Uryu pulling her bag from the claim. Lately, she had studied Uryu more and more. Maybe it was his heritage or maybe it was his upbringing or maybe it was his age, but Uryu had been exhibiting a strong sense of duty to Orihime. He opened doors, he carried her belongings, and entered places before her, inspecting the safety for her first. He pulled out Yachiru's bag after. Uryu pulled the handle up on the suitcase for Orihime so she could pull it behind her, but continued to hold the Shinigami's pink suitcase for her. He smiled back at Orihime before answering her question, "The inhabitants of this city never age. It's Neverland if you're wealthy enough. The Shinigami dwell in secret luxury in this city by completing vampire assassinations around the world at a very high price. Although, any Shinigami would tell you he was simply doing it for the extinction of the vermin, they're really just businessmen."

"We do the work you don't get around to doing," Yachiru protested. Orihime was happy that she was the only Shinigami tagging along. Rukia and the others from the party stayed behind to investigate the city while Orihime traveled with Uryu and Yachiru was commanded to come back to the Seireitei.

"Uryu…how many vampires have you killed?" Orihime asked under her breath.

He grinned again. Maybe Yachiru's ridiculous candid ways were rubbing off on the older girl. It wasn't proper for anyone to be asking about a murder count in public, especially when the airports were paranoid enough. "Not enough," he responded nonetheless.

"Kenny says it's like pulling the plug on a brain dead person in the hospital. We're doing the vampires a favor they can't do for themselves." Orihime cringed at how comfortable Yachiru had been talking about murder.

"I suppose," Orihime began. She went to argue further, but her cell phone alarmed and took her mind away. She quickly fumbled with the pocket of her hooded jacket to find her phone. The screen read Tatsuki. "Hey!...Class got out early…So we're just supposed to study for the test until Friday?...Alright, what chapters?...Just a second, I'll write this down." Orihime stopped abruptly in the midst of the Los Angeles cultural exchange to fish a pen and piece of paper from her purse. She came up with an eyeliner pencil and a postcard from the mail she grabbed that morning. She glanced at the card quickly to make sure it wasn't anything she'd have to send back. "Okay, I've got eyeliner and a reminder to donate blood next month, what's the homework," she joked. "Alright, I'll see you when I'm feeling better." Orihime hated lying about where she was to her best friend, but she couldn't necessarily tell her she was about to see the grand society of vampires.

Uryu watched her quietly while she conversed on the phone. Being immortal made age seem like such a frivolous thing, but hearing how she spoke with her friend reminded him that she was far too young to have to deal with saving the world.

Orihime was staring back at him, but with a different intent. She passed a finger over the top of his cheek then showed it to him. At the tip of her index finger sat a tiny black curve. "It's an eyelash, make a wish." Uryu couldn't decipher which was more absurd, the notion that an eyelash could grant a wish or that someone was acquainted with him well enough to touch him. _Maybe this is what being mortal is all about_, Uryu thought, _putting faith in small things to gain something much bigger. _That eyelash could have been a birthday candle or a dandelion or God for all Uryu knew, but he still puffed gently at her finger. The little black hair didn't budge.

"I guess I'll have to have stronger resolve than that," Uryu mumbled before turning back and heading toward the exit.

Orihime chased behind, calling, "That's not what it means. It means you're supposed to make a different wish."

"Why don't you make a wish?"

She inflated her cheeks and blew on it as forcefully as she could. To her untrained eye, it looked like the lash just disappeared into thin air. Even from his distance, Uryu could see the tiny hair flit into the open air and fall to the ground.

_**Send them in, see them on**_  
_**She can't find a lover, she'll fashion one**_  
_**Imaginary men**_  
_**Like the burned out poets in the hinterland**_

The trio took a taxi out to downtown where they stopped in front of a skyscraper with mirrored windows. The revolving door was blocked by a giant man with shoulders wider than Uryu and Orihime put together. His sideburns traveled down to his beard where they split finally and were braided at the end. His mouth curved like it had never smiled and rarely opened. There was a tiny earpiece clipped onto his left ear. Yachiru barely came to his knees, but she put her hands on her hips like she was twenty feet taller. "Jidanbo, I'm here to report back to my captain with Miss Orihime."

He stepped aside for Orihime and Yachiru to enter. Uryu remained, leaning against the glass with his arms folded across his chest. The sign next to him read the address and the word Gotei. Orihime looked at Uryu silently. He sensed her unease. "Some ghosts of my past are haunting this building. I'd rather not enter." Orihime didn't ask a single question. He nodded at her, "I don't want you to worry, Orihime, but this wall is made from Sekkiseki stone, a rock soaked in old vampire blood. It will be almost impossible for me to sense you once you pass through that door. The Shinigami's have two hours with you, and then I will come for you. The doctor, Unohana, and I have already spoken previously. Should you feel uncomfortable, leave."

Yachiru didn't even protest. She passed by the guard merrily, expecting Orihime to understand and follow her. But Orihime refused to leave Uryu at the door. She looked up at him with wide eyes and a furrowed brow, "Uryu…I'm scared to do this…without you. How can I trust them?"

"How can you trust me?" he asked.

She remembered back to the day when she met Urahara. Orihime knew without resolve that she could trust no one fully. But something set Uryu aside from Urahara and Rukia and Yachiru, so she told him. "Because we're friends."

Yachiru poked her head back out before Uryu could respond, "Boobies, you're wasting our two hours."

Uryu watched Orihime disappear into the building, all the while wondering what it meant to have a friend. He'd had allies, teammates, lovers, acquaintances…but a _friend_?

Inside, Orihime and Yachiru were immediately met by a young, tall woman with silver hair and grey eyes. She nodded politely at the both of them, then reminded Yachiru, "Captain Zaraki is waiting for you. Miss Inoue, welcome to the Seireitei. I am Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu of the 4th Division. On behalf of the 4th Division, it is a privilege to meet your acquaintance. Please follow me. Our time is short and my superior is anxious to meet you."

Orihime followed the woman closely. Her face was serene and calm. They entered an elevator together. Isane pressed the button with the mark of her division. The building had a strange modern feel to it though it housed ancient secrets.

Each time Orihime felt the inklings of a strange sixth sense building, her head began to hurt. Isane smiled warmly down at Orihime who was rubbing her head in distress. "It's natural to try and separate Reiatsu's, but I would advise you not to. The power of the Sekkiseki rock will only overpower you." Orihime frowned. The newly gained awareness of the immortal society came with such discord. "I can assure you your Quincy friend is still outside." Then, a calming wave washed over Orihime.

"Isane…is Uryu…are the Shinigami and the Quincy's enemies?" Orihime asked.

"In a way. The Quincy's used to be a mortal race, but now Uryu is all that remains. Our job is to protect the humans from the vampires, that includes Uryu." The elevator door opened and Isane allowed Orihime to exit first. "However, we have a mutual understanding that so long as neither of us get in each other's way, then we needn't worry about the other. It's only lately that the Quincy has become a nuisance. But he did bring you here and seems to be cooperating."

Being inside the 4th Division felt like being inside Heaven's waiting room. Everything was sterile and white. The main room sounded like being inside a pillow, hushed and muted. Isane pointed to each of the hallways that branched from the main entrance.

"The barracks are down that way, the offices are down that way, and the care units are down this way."

Orihime was taken to a room that looked like a doctor's office. There was a steel table with white paper stretched across in the middle. There were sterile items such as cotton balls and cotton swabs kept in the corner on a counter beneath a cabinet. Unohana was waiting inside wearing a white lab coat with her long braid wrapped around the front. Her face, too, was sweet. She was an older vampire. Orihime wondered who was older in years, who had been infected first, Isane or Unohana. The doctor happily shook Orihime's hand and offered her a seat.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice. I'm glad you understand our curiosity. You'd be surprised how much information I can dig up about you using government and financial records, but seeing you in person brings us forward light years." Unohana took Orihime's temperature and blood pressure. She checked her ears and eyes. "Orihime, I'll need a pint of your blood for inspection. I can assure you that is all I will take and I will extract it using very sterile methods. What fascinates me is that your blood seems to have no miracle effect on yourself. You have scars and scabs. But when an Espada _ingests_ it, his arm grows back?"

"Unohana…should I fear the Espada? I mean, more so than any other vampire."

Unohana and Isane exchanged worried glances. Eventually, Unohana placed a hand on either of Orihime's shoulders to ease her. "The Quincy will not be able to protect you from the army of Espada. But, in exchange for your cooperation, you have the full support of the 4th Division, and as far as I have been told, the support of Yachiru's Division. Still, the Espada army is vast and growing. The Seireitei cannot be expected to use all of its forces to protect one human. The best advice I can give you is not to travel alone or at night or in places that are unfamiliar to you. And also…you should keep a friend who is aware of your danger. I beg of you, be discreet with choosing to tell the immortal secret. But if it's what you must do, then by all means, do it."

"What else, exactly, did you dig up about me? You didn't…spy on my friends or anything."

The captain remained patient with all of Orihime's curiosity. "If you're speaking of Tatsuki Arisawa, we keep an eye on her because she's close to you, but we don't pry. We have, however, had our interest piqued over your friend Ichigo. You and he have a lot more in common than you'd think." Orihime urged her to continue with a furrowed brow. "I wouldn't put too much stock in it for now. We'll need to evaluate your blood first. When we have answers, I promise we'll inform you."

_**The phoenix says,  
The devil says,  
The serpent says,  
The siren says,**_

_**Why use the word, when the word means the beast?**_

Orihime had been taken to another sterile room where Unohana and Isane were retrieving a sample of her blood and putting it into small tubes. As Unohana wrapped the tiny wound where the needle had entered Orihime's arm, a shadowy figure arrived to see their progress. His face was painted like a mask. Orihime could barely make out a person beneath the black and white makeup. Orange eyes peaked out under a gold headpiece. If anyone were to be a vampire ever, it was this man. Oddly enough, a perfectly normal and healthy looking young woman with black hair stood behind him.

His long white robes grazed the floor as he approached a shaking Orihime. "Thousands of years of evolution has finally gotten us this far," he began. When he touched Orihime with his long fingers and long fingernails, she flinched. He laughed at this sadistically. "Unohana, I'm so saddened to hear the Quincy handed her over to _you_ after all I've done for him." He glanced to his female partner. "_She _was intended to be an offering for your head, but he refused. Stupid boy, doesn't he realize that you're not as special as you think? There will be more like you. Evolution is weeding us out of the gene pool."

"Captain Kurotsuchi," Unohana interrupted, "you're frightening my patient."

Orihime remembered the name from the story of how the vampires came to be. He was the creator. Now he was working against them with the Shinigami? Maybe he was atoning for his terrible crimes. Orihime couldn't begin to imagine how many things that man had seen in his life after living for centuries and centuries. "By now I'm sure you've figured out that this miracle blood is more of an elixir than a vaccine or else the girl would be able to regenerate. But that's all thanks to my experiments from ages past." Again, Kurotsuchi touched Orihime, this time thumbing the bite mark on her neck. "If only we could talk to that Espada. Maybe we should keep you as bait."

"I have set aside one vial of blood for you, Captain." Unohana handed him a red tube. "You may use it as you see fit for your studies, but you are not to go near the patient."

"You say that now, Unohana, but soon the Quincy will remember what happened last time he stood in the way."

Orihime traded stares with the girl behind Kurotsuchi. She was surprisingly attractive. She had a strict posture and resolve about her. Her green eyes displayed an almost forced melancholy, as if she were stern because she had been commanded to be so, not because she had any real problems to be stoic toward. Orihime wanted to reach out to feel the girl's skin because it seemed so perfect as though it had been manufactured. Nothing about her was genuine. But she was solid, like someone had cloned Uryu and painted him to look like a woman. Her dress was short and there was a red choker around her neck. Orihime could tell that the outfit wasn't by choice, but out of an order she had received to look a certain way. Was she made to impress Uryu? Is this what sort of woman attracted Uryu?

"Just remember, Orihime," Kurotsuchi warned, "they're _all_ killers. At the end of the day, they've all taken lives in one way or another."

"I don't believe that. The Quincy is a good person," Orihime protested.

"I beg your pardon? Nemu, did you hear this girl? She said the Quincy was a _good person_." Kurotsuchi gripped Orihime tightly around the neck with his spindly fingers. "I can assure you that _murderer _is neither good nor a person. You would do well to remember that the Immortal world survives based on power alone. Should you choose to side with the Quincy and his one man army, you will be met by the thousands of Shinigami, the hundreds of Espada, and the countless number or lower ranking vampires. Is your _good person_ going to protect you from all of that?" He released her by tossing her to the ground, knocking down a trey of medical supplies.

_**The hourglass sees what shelf life does**_  
_**She asked, exactly tell me**_  
_**"What is love but grieving life alone?"**_  
_**Just the words from prophets and religious shows**_

Orihime and Uryu checked into a hotel out of Downtown for the night. Orihime needed rest. She hadn't eaten all day and her body was low on iron after the blood had been taken. Unohana offered the girl room within the Seireitei, but Orihime denied the gesture to stay with Uryu. Just as he promised, when she came out, Uryu was waiting in the same spot for her. They wanted sleep before their plane left in the morning. Yachiru returned to her Division and Rukia had made no contact. Orihime left a message on Ichigo's phone, but assumed he had been busy with school.

Uryu, for the first time in over a century, fumbled with his words. Orihime came floating out of the bathroom like she had never touched ground in her life. She passed a brush over her cascading red hair, then passed her spread fingers through it to work out the last little kinks. She was ready for bed in a white camisole and short set that had lace fringe and soft pink polka dots no bigger than beads. She unhooked her earrings and set them on the bedside table. It had been decided when they entered that the one bed in the room would belong to Orihime and Uryu would sleep on the floor beside her.

Uryu wanted to talk to her, but his words had looped around his tongue like a noose. He had seen millions of women like her. He had seen skinny girls, fat girls, supermodels, street walkers, every type of girl one could imagine. And not since the last girl caught his attention centuries ago, had he stopped to notice any of them. It wasn't her hips, or her chest, or her soft grey eyes, or her sweet pale face. It wasn't even her confidence, or her gratitude, or her sincerity. It wasn't even the fact that she _understood_ his dilemma, or at least, tried to. No, it was something much more simplistic and primal. He was lonely, and he was a man, and she was a woman. At that moment, his feelings went no further than that. He hadn't even regarded his loneliness until they neared the Seireitei and he remembered who lurked inside.

"H-how was your visit?" he stuttered. "I trust they were careful with you."

"Nothing terrible. They just took some blood and asked about the attacks." Her voice was stern.

Uryu had never heard such a tone from the girl. He wanted to look her in the eye and decipher her mood, but each time he did, those lonely thoughts returned. "You sound…upset," he said as he shifted over to his overnight bag, pretending to be searching for something.

"I met _him_."

Suddenly, an air or realization crept over Uryu. The silly instinct driven thoughts dissipated. It was time to be less vulnerable. "I assume you mean the creator, Kurotsuchi?" Orihime nodded. "So you must have met Nemu as well?" She nodded again. "At least…you met _parts_ of her. Nemu Kurotsuchi died a very long time ago. Her and I, we were…"

"_Lovers_?" Orihime asked.

He looked at her long enough for her to see him blush. But he chuckled it off and turned away. "She was a mortal who fell in love with me. She worked in a research lab at one of the colleges I frequented over the years. I refused to turn her into my kind. She wanted to be immortal so badly. The next time I saw her, it was after I heard of an attack on the school. Kurotsuchi had changed her, and I killed her." Orihime's words caught in her throat. "At the end of the day, I must remember who my enemies are. She couldn't control the initial bloodlust the infection causes and she had attacked a lot of good people. Her reanimation was just a fluke Kurotsuchi came across when he was trying to create something to negate the effects of my arrows. He doesn't like to have enemies."

"Kurotsuchi wanted to trade me for her?"

Uryu had switched off the bedside lamp to remind her it was time for bed. "Goodnight, Orihime," he stated flatly.

She could hear him rustle into his covers on the floor. Completely unsatisfied, Orihime leapt at the light to turn it on. She was standing over Uryu who was shirtless to her surprise. Orihime caught herself thinking, again, about how romanticized television made things. Granted, Uryu had a very attractive body, but what made her so attentive to his physique was all the talk of lost love, the feeling of being chosen over someone as attractive as Nemu Kurotsuchi, and that lingering idea that she had never truly involved herself with a man since her brother died. Orihime shook away any notion of something as foolish as beginning something with Uryu Ishida, especially after a story about how he killed a woman for trying. Uryu was frowning up at her with studious eyes. She knew by now when Uryu was reading her Reiatsu. She tried to think of something else to keep her mind away from her private thoughts. "Why did you pick me over her?"

"Honestly?" Orihime nodded. "She knew the precautions. She knew my character. She knew the danger. Her time on this planet was put to an end as soon as she chose power over life. I need to protect you from making that choice." Uryu reached up to shut the light off again, "And it doesn't hurt that you're much prettier than she was."

Orihime was flabbergasted and adorably awestruck. Uryu enjoyed that little moment far too much. He couldn't tell if he meant it or not, but it was fun to watch her squirm with insecurity. "Do you mean that?" she asked in an almost upset voice.

"Goodnight Orihime."

She switched the light back on.

He switched it off.

She switched it back on.

"If you turn that back on I will be forced to use the full weight of my ability to defend my right to sleep."

His face was blank as ever, but Orihime concentrated to feel out his Reiatsu. She knew he would never harm her, never curse her, never insult her. They were play fighting, and she rather liked the few moments when she could be a human again. So she turned the light back on.

Quicker than she could have ever expected, Uryu had the light back off and Orihime pinned to the mattress at the torso with her legs hanging off the edge. His old eyes, though strengthened by the aid of his glasses, adjusted to darkness quickly. He could see Orihime's sweet face smiling happily as she giggled. She was 21 and for a few moments he could be too.

"I'll have you know, I'm Orihime the Undying," she couldn't even announce herself without laughing uncontrollably.

"Well I beg your pardon, I had no idea." Uryu and Orihime both continued to laugh, waiting for the other to make a move.

Then it happened, the comedy died, and all that was left was a man and a woman in a precarious situation. Uryu motioned to exit the scene, but Orihime asked a serious question and he remained to look in her eyes when he answered. "Really, Uryu, am I prettier than her? I could use a pick me up."

"You mortal girls are so strange," he began. "You could be faced with life or death or saving the planet, but if you can have just one compliment a day, you're set."

"It's different when it's a friend. I really care what my friends say, so when I get compliments from them, it really means something to me."

"Truthfully, you're a very beautiful, very stunning, very intelligent, very brave," he continued as he pulled himself away from her to return to his bed, "very caring, very _young_, very _mortal_ woman. That's seven compliments to last you a whole week."

Orihime's fanciful brain constantly rewound the situation to where he was on top of her. And all of the frogs and birds and fish in the lagoon danced around them, singing _Kiss The Girl_ until she finally shared a real moment with Uryu Ishida. But it wasn't meant to be. His words had reached her dramatically, and she knew she needed to stop looking at Uryu in a personal light and in a professional one instead.

_**Imagine hurt, imagine tears**_  
_**She opened up until she disappeared**_  
_**Vanished, hand in hand,**_  
_**With all the long-lost children locked in Neverland**_

School seemed like such a joke to return to when the world was in a battle against immortal beings of death. Chad, Tatsuki, Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, and Uryu were outside on the grass eating lunch before heading to their shared history class. Chad and Tatsuki seemed normal, but everyone else might as well have been on the other side of the planet. Rukia hadn't been too friendly to begin with, but now Ichigo was acting distant. Fed up with the silence and the awkward small talk, Orihime stood up, "I'm gonna excuse myself for a second." Uryu attempted to get up as well, but she shook her head, "Oh, you don't have to follow me; I'll be right back, Uryu."

Orihime headed out past the grass near the parking lot, then past the basketball court until she found herself alone in the abandoned soccer field. The school had recently received a donation to build another. This one had become overgrown and disheveled. It had been forgotten about. The grass came up past Orihime's naked in ankles. It scratched a little. She almost regretted wearing one of her shorter skirts, but the day was nice and the weather was fair. After deciding she walked far enough, she started to head back to her group.

"Ichigo!" Orihime gasped. "You scared me. I didn't know anyone was out here." His face was tight like he had been gripping his jaw shut. She couldn't recognize it as anger, so she assumed it had just been concern. "I didn't mean to leave, I just needed fresh air, I mean I know we're outside-" Ichigo cut off her senseless rambling with a bruising kiss.

His whole mouth was upon her. It was too violent. It was too rough. It was nothing like she wanted it to be. It was nothing like she wanted Ichigo to be. But it was a kiss. It was emotion. It was someone not just complimenting her, but acting upon it, and letting her know that it was real, not just words. She allowed him to enter her mouth with his tongue. Their moans melded into a humming tune. She felt his warm hands inch under her shirt to lace fingernails over her bare back.

Maybe it was the hormones, or maybe he hadn't quite finished lunch, but somehow, Ichigo managed to prick her tongue with a quick bite from his canines. She didn't think anything of it, at first, she simply continued as though nothing had altered. Meanwhile, Ichigo managed to take in a deep swallow of their mixed saliva and two tiny drops of Orihime's blood. The overpowering sensation of her miracle blood and the screaming lust caused him to take his attack further. He ripped at the front of her white collared shirt to expose her white neck. His hands soothed her body whilst his mouth hovered over where only two other men had ventured to go before.

**That's it, King, bite her!**

That vicious voice. It was _his_ fault that Ichigo ended up attacking Orihime in the first place. It just kept talking during lunch: **Don't you want her, King? Look at that body. And her blood is supposed to be delicious. Take her. She's all yours. Nothing can stop you, not even the Quincy. She wants you, she loves you, she'd let you do anything to her, even fucking drink her.**

When Orihime left, he tried to stay calm about following her. He was even thinking about telling her to stay away from him until he got the voice squared away. But then he saw her alone, vulnerable, unprotected…

Then, as quickly as he came, he was running away from her, or rather, running after something else, leaving her confused in an open field with Uryu standing a couple feet away. Embarrassed, she could only shrug at Uryu. "He's a partial vampire. I used a Blood Bomb to distract him. It's a glass bulb filled with young, sweet blood and a Sekkseki stone. It'll throw off your scent for a while," Uryu said.

Orihime went over to meet him. "What do you mean?"

"I noticed when we sat down for lunch. His blood smells different. It smells like Kuchiki blood. I would stay away from him until we get this squared away."

Orihime began to storm off after Ichigo, "Did you ever think that the normal thing to do would be to simply ask? In the real world, you can't just observe people from afar and strike when you feel they're dangerous. Ichigo's my friend. I want to make sure he's okay."

"Orihime, please don't. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Why? Because then I couldn't cure you?" she replied angrily.

"What about Yachiru? Don't you wanna help her?"

"I want to help _Ichigo_! This is between friends, so why don't you just butt out?"

_**Oh, the pheonix says,**__**  
**__**"Burn for me!"**__**  
**__**The Devil says,**__**  
**__**"Lie for me!"**__**  
**__**The serpent says,**__**  
**__**"Beg for me!"**_  
_**The siren says,**__  
__**"Die for me!"**_

_- IAMX_

Don't worry, this is IshiHime! Please keep reading. Thanks again for making it this far.


	5. Clown

_**Crying loud you are crawling on the floor**_  
_**Just a beautiful baby**_  
_**You're nothing more**_

Orihime paced forward and back in front of her bathroom door. She had already knocked twice, and Uryu had dismissed her both times. But it wasn't in her nature to let these things go. She wanted to apologize. She wanted him to know that she was regretful for her outbursts and that she still valued his friendship and protection. She could feel heat and see steam coming from under the door. She knew he was showering, but guilt couldn't wait.

She knocked again, crying, "Uryu, I'd really like to talk to you!"

She could hear him groan. She imagined him scrunching up his face slightly and rolling his eyes as he usually did. "Orihime, give me a few more minutes. It can wait," he replied.

"It can't wait," she complained, "I have to talk to you now!"

In a vicious flash, Uryu tossed the door open and glared down at Orihime.

Time stopped. Orihime's eyes zoned in on a single bead of water on Uryu's naked shoulder. Time finally started up again as the bead began to trail down his skin. It was slow motion, at best, and it refused to absorb into Uryu's skin. It simply gathered more watery friends to add to its girth and continue to travel down until Orihime's eyes had fixed on something she had never seen within arm's reach. "O-o-ohmagod!" Orihime said in baffled tone.

Uryu knew what that reaction meant. It was silly to think a girl her age had never seen a naked man, especially with all of the resources at her disposal. He had to stifle a laugh but failed when he tried speaking down to her. His voice broke and he snickered all at once, "What is it that you need?"

Orihime, trying hard to cover her embarrassment, looked up at the ceiling. "I wanted to apologize – can you please get dressed so I can talk to you?"

Still struggling, Uryu commanded, "No, you're a big girl, out with it." She didn't answer. She simply bit her lip. "Orihime, don't tell me you've never seen a naked man before."

"Not one that I could touch," she squeaked.

"I hardly offered for you to _touch _me," he joked. Orihime planted herself along the wall, gazing at the wall parallel to it. "It's just a body. Even your friend Ichigo has one."

"It's just a body to you, but to us _mortals_ it means something. It means…it means…umm…"

"Yes," he urged. "What's it mean?"

"I don't know! If anything, it's something you don't do in polite society anyway."

Orihime attempted to escape with her red cheeks and flushed mind. Uryu clamped her steady with one hand on her shoulder, pinching her clavicle bone with his long fingers. Uryu pursed his lips before catching his words on his tongue and beginning again in a different direction. "I've dismembered bodies in polite society. A little skin isn't going to hurt anyone."

"Was that really what you were going to say?" she asked warily, knowing that she was overstepping some hidden boundary between them.

Questioning him was something completely new, but her just cause was even more discerning. "I was going to say…I…it doesn't matter. Umm…let's get going, you said you had to meet a friend."

"No," she interrupted, "tell me."

"It was irreverent. I don't know why I was thinking it in the first place. I was just thinking if I would have your same reaction if our roles were reversed." Orihime blushed again and quickly replaced her embarrassment with an unnecessary pride. "I didn't mean it _that _way. I meant, you're right, it's more than just skin to mortals. Immortals take it for granted because they can have it whenever they want, and they have so long to see it. You people seek to earn it as some trophy. And you only have one lifetime to do it. I didn't mean to poke fun."

"I wonder what it would be like, to have so many lifetimes to do whatever you wanted, to be a doctor or a baker or an astronaut."

"Orihime," he began, "you can be all those things in this life. You'd be surprised how minor your limitations are when you realize you're not hunted down daily as a murderer or consumed by an insatiable blood lust. If you want to be a doctor-baker-astronaut, then go do it." They nodded in agreement and he retreated to the bathroom.

Orihime giggled to herself thinking about how the most monumental advice she'd ever gotten was from a naked vampire. _Twilight lady, eat your heart out,_ she thought.

_**Close your eyes**_  
_**You are crawling into sleep**_

"Orihime!" cried a bellowing voice. The man was wearing a white lab coat with a buttoned flannel beneath. It was the second time Orihime had dealt with a sterile environment and doctors, but she felt much safer in this one, much safer with Isshin Kurosaki. He hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead. "I'm so glad you could make it on such short notice." He quickly exchanged pleasantries with Uryu.

Uryu remained focused on the man before him. It couldn't be the same Isshin Kurosaki that had been given the first round of vampire vaccine, though the time frame did match up. Isshin did appear to be in his fifties. However, it was plain to see that the vaccine had not worked if Ichigo had contracted the virus.

On display in the lobby of his small town clinic was a sword about the door. His lobby had been well decorated in antiques, but the sword stood out to Uryu. It was a Shinigami blade, and a well-crafted one at that. It was common for men to collect ancient weapons, but not ones like that. It was sharpened and ready for battle. It wasn't a decoration in the slightest. Orihime and Isshin continued to catch up on small talk before Uryu interrupted, "Who do you scout for, Mr. Kurosaki?"

Isshin's bubbliness went flat immediately. "Let's discuss this…behind closed doors, shall we?" He shooed the pair into his office. Isshin checked behind him to make sure his daughters were still manning the front desk of his clinic. "So you're aware?" he asked, directing his cryptic question to Uryu.

"We're both aware, Mr. Kurosaki," Uryu replied.

Isshin's face contorted with a heavy sorrow. He could feel a great pity for the burden of knowledge that had been placed on the young girl. "Orihime…there is so much to tell you."

"Answer my question," reminded Uryu.

"Yes…I scout for Squad Six."

"That puts things into perspective. Makes it easier to understand how Renji and Rukia ended up here. Squad Six is Renji's squad, headed by Rukia's brother-"

"I'm sorry, I don't understrand," Orihime interrupted. "What is a scout? Please tell me you're not a vampire, Mr. Kurosaki!"

Isshin laughed off the thought. "The Shinigami need eyes on the inside and people to help cover up the secret. Scouts are usually police or doctors…that's how we were able to keep your attack quiet." He squirmed again, feeling that same regret. "Orihime…I'm so sorry that happened to you. The Shinigami thought since your brother-"

"Sora!"

Uryu mirrored Orihime's confusion. "Your brother who died in a car accident?"

"Orihime…he didn't die…in a car accident. He was bit by an Espada. He was brought into the clinic the same evening. I didn't want to make the call…I didn't want to tell the Shinigami that I found a vampire. But I couldn't let him hurt you or Ichigo." His eyes wanted to rain. "The Shinigami had been watching you two for years. But when they found out that Sora wasn't immune to the disease, they left down and destroyed Sora's remains."

"…Why?" was all Orihime could ask. Though Isshin fought to remain in control of his emotions, Orihime wept, feeling the limit of her emotions.

When Isshin couldn't reply, Uryu carried on for him. "Your mother and Isshin were injected with prototype vaccines before you were born. Kurotsuchi assumed that if he could implant a gene that would fight the disease, it would mutate naturally and become stronger, as in, the next generation would be immune. Sora wasn't immune, so Kurotsuchi stopped examining you and Ichigo."

"That idiot, Kurotsuchi. I told him that genetics were a crap shoot. The Shinigami will no doubt return when they hear of Orihime."

Uryu scoffed, "They already have, and they've already tried to assimilate your son."

"Then I'm too late…" Isshin cast his eyes downward. "I was hoping to have you help me tell Ichigo. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. I should have told you both much sooner. His sisters, Yuzu and Karin…they can't become completely assimilated. I've experimented with blood samples. I assume it's the same with Ichigo. I don't know what I'd do if he ended up hurting anyone."

"He's working with Shinigami…"said Orihime. "I trust Rukia to teach him to use his power for good."

"Don't be so certain," began Uryu, "he's already attacked Orihime."

Isshin Kurosaki, though friendly and giving usually, housed a silent storm at all times. He knew, from the very moment he met the immortal doctor who gave him that fateful injection, he would always protect his own first. That included his daughters and son, Orihime, and all _human_ life. Isshin used the knowledge he had been given, how to kill, how to suppress, how to react, and had done well to protect his loved ones. The thought of Ichigo, his own son, slipping through his shielding grasp, ripped open old wounds. "My wife," he started, "was killed by an Immortal. I should have told Ichigo, taught him to hate the vampires as I did. But the Shinigami told me to use my pull with the medical society to have the autopsy faked. Orihime, all I can say is that I'm sorry. And I know Ichigo would never hurt you purposefully."

"It's a Quincy law that if a Quincy is infected, it must be killed by a Quincy. I would extend the same generosity to you, Mr. Kurosaki, but if Ichigo attacks Orihime again-"

"Then you have my permission to stop him…by any means necessary," Isshin answered for him.

Orihime stood in a drastic manner, hands waving before her and eyes still dripping with fresh tears. "Please, Isshin! Ichigo would never hurt me on purpose. I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of whatever I am."

"It's not so easy. I trained and experience vampire knows how to handle their hunger. They know how to kill discreetly and painlessly. A young, fresh, _hungry_ vampire won't think twice about how he kills or how he lures them in. My son may not mean to hurt you, but he could, _easily_."

Uryu held her hand tightly for a quick moment. His hand was warm as before. "I allow anyone to harm you?"

"Because I'm a cure?" she cried back.

"Because you're my friend."

_**I swear I won't break you**_  
_**If you let me take you**_  
_**Where the willows never weep**_

Uryu and Orihime were called away to Urahara's shop after their talk with Isshin. He requested Uryu, and Uryu urged for Orihime's assistance, telling her it had something to do with Ichigo. At the sound of her friend's name, Orihime knew she would join him. "Do you think he's hurt?" she wondered aloud.

"Urahara thinks I might be able to…persuade him. But you know that my tactics can be a little harsh. That's why I want you to come. We'll try your methods."

"You mean talking?" Uryu nodded. "Thank you. I couldn't stand for Ichigo to suffer. It might help him to see a friend." The final word resonated in her mind. She had told Uryu that they were friends and he had ultimately reciprocated in due time. "Did you mean it?"

"It's in the past now. Forget it. You'll worry yourself sick trying to get into my head. Too many years of emotion for you to ponder over." He looked down at her concerned face.

"Do you…do you see the world differently?"

Uryu took a small opportunity to make a quick joke, "You mean do my vampire eyes give me 4-D vision?" She glared up at him in response. "I know what you mean…besides, I wear glasses, my depth perception is terrible." He sighed, knowing he would have another lengthy explanation of his personal life to dole out to a child that would never understand. "I am two minds about most things. Sometimes I see it at a distance and very black and white; things are either living or dead. I can hear my father's voice in my head when I speak that way. Then, I hear my grandfather. He's telling me never to be cynical and to let things slow down to a glacial speed so that I can drink in minute details. But I always seem to circle back and I'm angry again. Take these cracks in the sidewalk. There were men hired to pave this sidewalk, and they did it for a meager wage so that they could feed their family and their life could continue another day. But these cracks, they come with age, lots of age. So this man's hard work is nothing against the sands of time and decay. Then I relate it to me. My mother worked very hard to keep me safe in her womb for nine months only to have me destroyed two decades later. How would that man feel if he saw these cracks, what would my mother think if she knew what I am? "

Orihime stared deep into those cracks. There was a strange sensation of seeing the center of the Earth at the bottom, some sort of ominous hot lava flowing about a giant rock or whatever her science teachers told her was at the center of the Earth. It used to make her laugh when she'd hear facts about how the Sun would burn out in millions of years or how there's magma under the Earth. How did people know that? Why did people care? Can't the Sun just be nice thing to have? Did she really have to worry about it burning out on her in millions of years? The life she had now was so much more interesting and the warm weather was so satisfying. Orihime still hadn't fathomed a response to provide her friend with. Instead, she gently placed her head on his shoulder and smiled up at the warm sun, which would someday outlive even the great Uryu.

Her physical contact didn't feel as misplaced or awkward this time. Uryu knew what they looked like: her head on his shoulder, his hand finding her hand with great trepidation, and smiling at the Sun, thinking the same exact thing without saying it to one another. They looked like a couple, but more importantly, they looked happy to share each other's company. And he was. He was very happy to have someone to unload his strange secrets to. He enjoyed her empathy and wouldn't mind sharing her friendship for a while, at least until her mortal coil wore out and it was time for her to sleep eternally without him…and the cynicism returned just like that. Uryu's father reminded him that she was pure and untainted by the monster-thing he was. He had no right to befriend her when she would die and eventually forget all about him.

But Orihime saved the conversation before he could pull his hand back and push her off his shoulder. "I told Kurotsuchi that you were a good person, no matter what he said."

"Why do you believe that?"

"You have a strong character that's hard for me to shake. I know you care about our friendship whether you say it or not. I know you worry about me. I know you're taking care of me, not just fulfilling some duty. I know you're more concerned about getting into my head than cracking my genetic code."

"You don't know _any _of that," he corrected.

"Well, that's why I told him you were good. Don't spoil the compliment."

Orihime could feel a brush of soft fur graze her naked calves. Yoruichi snaked between her legs then gave the pair a foul glare. "Isn't this quaint?" she purred.

"I thought I sensed a stalker," said Uryu, bending down to grab the black cat before it could scamper away. "Urahara forget to leave the kitty door open?"

Yoruichi dangled in Uryu's hold like a wet noodle. She licked her pristine white chops and hissed. "I've had orders to follow you since you came into town, Quincy. You of all people should be aware of the consequences of getting involved emotionally with a mortal."

Uryu dropped her like trash. "Is that why you assimilated Urahra centuries ago? Couldn't stand to be without your plaything?"

"No, that's why I turned _you_ centuries ago."

Orihime gave the cat a shocked look. "Yoruichi, you assimilated Uryu?"

"I had to. The silly bastard shot me in the neck. You should have seen your little hero. I had him by his throat, and he begged me not to bite him. I just laughed and chomped down." She feigned a biting motion. Her whiskers bobbed when she did. "We have since…_reconciled_."

"I awoke in the ashes of my father's study, hungry and vengeful."

Yoruichi took over the story from there, "He _ate_ my entire clan, vampire and human alike. My subordinate, Soifon, never forgave him. Part of the reason the Seireitei doesn't really trust him. But I consider it an even trade off. He killed off five hundred years of life and he'll be miserable for at least that amount of time."

"How can you both be so playful about all of this?" Orihime asked.

Uryu and Orihime were following the cat the rest of the way to Urahara's. She flicked her black tail back and forth when she walked. "After a decade or two, you give up vendettas. Holding grudges to the grave are for vampire soap operas. We both want the Espada dead and a cure for the disease. We're working toward a common goal."

Yoruichi pushed open the door with her little paws. Uryu instantly felt the pressure of the Sekkiseki stone that the shop was built with. Just when he felt a little bit of Kuchiki presence, it was gone in a flash. He could only guess who would be waiting for him. Orihime rubbed her head with slight pain. "This is that weird rock, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Eventually you will learn to control sensing Reiatsu's."

The feline slipped into a room but did not allow for the pair to follow before she returned, this time in the form of a beautiful, dark skinned woman. Her eyes had a radiant glow and her hair was long and purple. "Going to need to be in best form to deal with the little strawberry head. I had hoped you wouldn't bring the human with you, for her safety of course." She readied the sword at her side, gliding a silky hand over the smooth blade.

"What are you going to do to him?" Orihime cried.

Rukia, Renji, Rangiku, and Urahara arrived just as Yoruichi replied, "A little physical therapy."

Renji tossed Uryu a carving knife, "We'll need your help restraining him. His vampire gene is definitely mutant in a way I've never seen. He's hearing voices and violent as hell. He's out for blood and it doesn't even need to be the drinking kind."

Orihime pushed hard on Uryu's chest to keep him away from the door to the cellar where she could hear Ichigo's screams of rage. "Don't! Don't hurt him!"

"Don't be afraid," Rangiku started to reassure, "he'll heal just as quickly as he is injured. We just need him to simmer down."

"I know Ichigo; violence will only make him more violent. Let me talk to him!"

"It's too dangerous, Orihime. He could easily kill you." Rangiku gripped Orihime's wrist tightly. "We Shinigami have orders not to let you get hurt."

"Uryu…you trust me…right?"

Everyone was silent, waiting to hear his response. The Shinigami trusted Uryu to make rational decisions based on what was best for finding the cure. He had killed in the name of good before, but never scarified good for the sake of evil. Uryu tossed the knife to Orihime. "It's Quincy law to kill their own if they become infected…not because of pride, but because we would do it with the most respect for their fallen comrade."

Orihime tucked the knife into her back pocket. She didn't want to intimidate the already agitated Ichigo. "Thank you, Uryu. I won't be long."

Uryu made sure to restrain Rangiku and block the others when Orihime climbed down the stairs to the cellar. Ichigo had been bound to an almost medieval device. The base of his neck rested on a curved blade and his body sat atop a bed of nails set in a specific pattern. There was a row of blades beneath his spine, heart, wrists, and thighs. With enough pressure, he would have all the vital areas pierced and be drained of blood in no time. Orihime rushed to his side to untie him.

Ichigo looked wild. His eyes glowed fiercely with an orange light. His skin had paled to a sickly white shade. Orihime could see his muscles flex and release without the slightest movement of his body. "Ichigo…I'm going to let you out."

His voice was heavy with a bass she had never heard, almost like he had been possessed by something entirely inhuman. "Sure, let me out, Princess. Did you bring a stop watch to see how long it would take for me to have you dead?"

"I'm not afraid. I know you would never hurt me, Ichigo."

"Ichigo might not, but _I _will. I want to taste your blood again."

Orihime cut one rope with her barrowed knife, releasing one of Ichigo's hand. She would let him snatch her up. Instead, she laced her fingers into his larger hand. "Ichigo…remember when we met. You told me I had hair like your mom."

"I'll rip your fucking scalp out!" he growled.

"And when I finally met your mother, I wanted to be just like her. I dressed like her and she taught me how to cook and sew because my mom was gone. She taught me how to dance and act like a lady at dinner parties." Ichigo's wide, diseased eyes started to roll back, exposing the whites of the back of his eyes. "When she died, I heard your father talking to Sora at the wake. He said he was glad that your mom had taught me so much. But he didn't mention anything about the skills or etiquette. He just said that he was happy that she taught me how to be compassionate…for your sake. So that, even when your world was dark and you felt like you couldn't face another day, you'd always have the compassion of a loved one to fall back on."

Finally, Ichigo's fingers gripped back in her hand. It was a light squeeze. The color in his skin returned and though he was still quite warm, he had cooled considerably from his previous form. "Orihime…I don't want to be a demon. I don't want to be evil. I don't want to hurt you or anyone. I can't control what's inside of me."

Uryu, who had been waiting upstairs for the situation to calm down, met up with Ichigo and Orihime to help Orihime regain her friend. "It's not a matter of controlling the urge, Ichigo, you have to learn to use it to your advantage." Uryu helped cut out the calmed Ichigo. "You should talk to your father, Ichigo. He can help you."

"Who did this to you? Who infected you?" Orihime asked.

"When you were missing from school, I was worried. I went to your house and there was an Espada waiting for you. I tried to take him down, but I was too weak. He left me dying on your kitchen floor. The next thing I knew I was at a place called Gotei and they were taking my blood and telling me that I had been infected." Ichigo rolled off the contraption, happy to be free of the menacing confines. "I don't understand. They said this isn't the normal behaviors of a vampire. There's something wrong."

_**Coming quick into your wonderland**_  
_**Flying high on bleached white sand**_  
_**Tranquilized by lights you'll lose your way**_

"I'm so behind on my classes!" Orihime shouted to herself. Her text books fanned out in front of her in order of importance. She was all but failing statistics, so it was open and with the most marks from her highlighter. Her living room floor was barely large enough to house all of the homework she had to catch up on. "Variance of the sum of independent random variables...ummm…what?" Orihime passed a finger underneath the definition to go word by word. "Variance of the sum…of independent…random…variables…" She continued to read the problem aloud, "The table on the right shows the joint probability distribution between two random variables - X and Y. In a joint probability distribution table, numbers in the cells of the table represent the probability that particular values of X and Y occur together. What is the mean of the sum of X and Y?"

Uryu had been sprawled across the length of her couch with a cold towel over his face. It had been too long since he last fed and with Ichigo needing all of the attention he could get, blood in the area from donor supplies was low. He did his best to calm his shaking nerves. Orihime's frustration continued to wake him each time he felt an ounce of sleep coming on. "Do you need help?" he groaned.

Uryu hissed when his towel pulled from his face, allowing in searing sunlight from the sliding glass door and Orihime's beaming face. She lunged her heavy book in his half sleeping face. "Whaaaaat does this mean!"

Uryu looked at the black and white pages over the top of his glasses to make out the words. It had been a while since he had seen so many mathematic symbols, longer than he would care to admit. In fact, most of the equations she was facing weren't even in existence when he first went to school. "I don't know, Orihime."

She didn't think twice about tossing herself down on the couch on top of him. Her bottom sandwiched his knees to the couch cushions. Orihime wasn't particularly heavy, but the fluffy cushions kept his lower half sunken to where escape would not be an easy option. "I thought vampires knew everything."

"What a silly myth. Just because I look college-aged doesn't mean I continually go to college to fit in wherever I am. I enjoy acquiring new knowledge just as much as the next person, but mathematics only excites me so much. I have never had any interest in statistical mathematics. So, no, I don't know everything." His dangling arm snatched up her statistical calculator, "The first time I saw one of these was in 1992. You're sitting on someone who is pre Facebook."

Orihime giggled. "You're so lucky to have seen all of those wonderful things just coming into the world for the first time."

As though a switch had been flipped, his mood shifted toward anger and regret. "The world has changed little since my birth. There are still wars, and tyranny, and famine, and disease-"

"Is that your father talking?" she asked.

The idea of his father always left a terrible taste in his mouth. His stomach was growling, his head was aching, and now his heart was faced with remembering the horrible man who left him for dead so long ago. "Maybe…I'd hate to think that I'm anything like him, but his cynicism does come up time to time."

She was getting too comfortable, as she sometimes did. It made him uneasy and relaxed all at once. Orihime squeezed down in the crack of the couch to lay her head down on his chest. She hugged her confusing book to her bosom and asked, "What was it like when you were growing up?"

Uryu sighed. He didn't want her so close, leaning in to him like a sleeping child. He didn't want to feel her soft hair on his skin. He wanted her to fear him for the killer he was. Uryu thought of how romanticized Nemu had made him out to be. He had to keep Orihime from being secure. But he wanted companionship. "I was much more global then in my mindset. I was well read and up on current events. I was amazed at the entire splendor that was rising from the Americas. I remember, months before I was assimilated, Titania and Oberon were discovered. I was so fascinated."

"What are those?"

"They're moons of Uranus," Uryu answered. "I thought about how one day man would be able to travel there and the beginning step to that journey had been in my lifetime." His voice trailed off. "Now…I just don't care anymore. My world is now just me. I only care about progressing myself. The death of dictators doesn't faze me, the invention of the newest iPhone doesn't even rattle me. I've seen so much advancement and yet the world is still just as barbaric and savage as ever. So…I keep to myself and push forward every moment until the cure can be found. At which time, I will ingest it, and wait for death."

Orihime's eyelids were half open. The cadence of his somber speech lulled her into a painful depression. "How can you always ask me to cherish my mortality when you have no interest life yourself?"

"I don't have a life. The disease took that from me ages ago."

"Then why be mortal at all to die. I'm sure you could just as easily get yourself killed in battle. If this life causes so much pain, why continue it."

"You should add psychiatrist to your list of careers." Her body, tangled under his arm, was cool for her blood didn't circulate as his did. It calmed the aches in his stomach, but did nothing to soothe the discomfort in his heart and mind. "I suppose…a very small portion of me…is more faithful than my nihilistic exterior would like to let on. I suppose I do hope for something better and to one day be surprised by humanity."

"I think it's important to find good in every day, Uryu. Even the days when life seems the darkest."

"That's easy for you to say, you haven't tried doing that for hundreds of years. Optimism gets very tiring. Sometimes it's easier to keep myself in the shadows and remember that I am alone because I am a killer."

When she first met Uryu, she would let his despair fester. It wasn't her burden to share. Now, it was different. She could feel his melancholy engulf her like a black cloud. How he greeted each day was beyond her. Orihime shimmied out of the gap in the couch, putting two small hands flat on his chest, feeling his fluttering heart in her palm. She gave him a stern look. "You're not a killer."

"Orihime, don't try to redeem me. I keep my true nature tucked away from your view because I value your respect and trust, but if you could only be a part of my evil world, you would never have let me in your house when we first met. I really don't want to argue about my opinion of myself any further, it's one of the few things that doesn't fade with time."

"How can you not see the value of the person you are?"

In a short, hasty move, Uryu had Orihime trapped under his weight on the floor. It wasn't playful as it had been in the hotel. His eyes were intense and filled with fury. That was all Orihime could remember seeing before he sank his long teeth into her clavicle. She didn't even hear the sound of her ripping flesh, but she could feel the sting of the puncture and the sensation of blood being pulled from her body. When she struggled, Uryu crushed his hand down on her throat, choking her and stilling her all at once. She cried his name. She cried for him to stop. Orihime could talk down Ichigo because they had been friends for so long. Did her friendship with Uryu mean nothing?

"Uryu, please! You're hurting me!"

Uryu growled. His free hand wrenched the neckline of her shirt down further to expose the expanse of skin enclosing her fast beating heart. He kept his palm flat on this area, feeling for her heart beat. As an Immortal, he knew that sometimes vampires caught in the moment would sense a Reiatsu long after the heart stopped beating. He didn't want to kill her. Uryu simply wanted to terrify her beyond reason. Trust, at this point, was far from his mind. If she never called him friend again, it would be too soon. She had to fear him. He wouldn't let her admiration get the best of her as it did Nemu. Her breathing had slowed immensely, along with her pulse. He counted the beats to make sure he hadn't drained her beyond the safe amount.

Uryu rolled off of her in a sweaty mass. To bite the shoulder was called a _courtesy bite_. It was the way a vampire would feed on a donor. The blood flow from this area was slow enough to keep them from being overcome with bloodlust. To bite the neck was a _fatal bite_. Uryu had not used such a technique in centuries. There were a few drops of blood poised to roll down his chin.

Orihime turned her flushed face away from him, but he could still hear her soft voice. "I'm not afraid that you'll hurt me, Uryu. I just don't want you to hurt yourself anymore..."

_**Well just come with me and I'll make you see**_  
_**With me you'll want to stay**_  
_**Can baby come out to play**_

Quietly, Ichigo shut the door to his sisters' bedroom behind him. He had just switched off their light and tucked them in. They, of course, asked about where he had been, why hadn't he been at breakfast, why was he missing school. He made excuses; he lied. When they seemed satisfied, he kissed them each on the cheek and set them to bed. They were growing each day, coming closer to womanhood. His sporty, rambunctious sister, Karin, was taking after their father, and his sweet, generous sister, Yuzu, took after their mother. In that instant, he wanted Orihime around more. He wanted their eyes to be full of kindness the way hers were.

Ichigo dismissed the thought. They needed their father. They needed their brother.

"Dad…" Ichigo muttered. He could feel his father's distinct presence before he heard him at the end of the hall.

Ichigo spun around to find his father charging toward him. His father had been known to sneak up on Ichigo to get a quick punch in or challenge his boy to a sparring match. This wasn't the case. Isshin caught his son tightly in his arms. Ichigo had grown a few inches taller than his old man over the years, but the last time Ichigo remembered being held like this by his father was when his mother died and he was just a boy. His shoulder grew damp where his father's tears had gathered.

"Son…" The word held such meaning to Isshin. Ichigo was his first child and only son. The thought of bringing his seed into the world after the vaccine injections scared Isshin terribly, but his wife assured him that so long as they worked together to protect him. Isshin's fears subsided the day his boy was brought home from the hospital. At first, the parents kept Ichigo as far away from the Immortal society as possible. They wanted his mind to be prepared for it. They wanted him to understand why life was important and why people are valuable before they presented him with the idea of those who could live forever. When his wife died at the hand of a vampire, Isshin wanted nothing to do with it. He wanted his children safe. He worked hand in hand with the Shinigami to keep his children away from all the terror that was in the world. "I'm so sorry, Ichigo. Forgive me."

"Dad?" Isshin pulled away and their gazes locked. They were silent, reading the other's Reiatsu. In an instant, Ichigo was aware of his father's knowledge. Was he disappointed? Was he shamed? Was he scared? Ichigo let his face fall to the floor. He didn't like the feel of tears in his eyes, nor did he enjoy letting anyone, let alone his father, see his vulnerability. "I'm sorry, dad…I don't want to hurt anybody."

"It's not your fault, Ichigo. I should have trained you a long time ago."

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid I'm going to hurt my friends or you or Yuzu and Karin."

Isshin gave Ichigo a brisk shake. "You won't hurt anyone, Ichigo. Listen to me, we, you and me, are strong enough to fight this. You're my son."

"I hurt Orihime. I was going to hurt a friend at school. The Shinigami had to tie me down in a basement…I don't want to be an animal."

"You are not animal," he said slowly, stressing each word. "You are my son! I'm going to help you, Ichigo. We're going to figure this out together. I'm not going to lose anyone else to this curse."

_**Circus lights are shutting slowly down**_  
_**But still you're up in the air**_  
_**And loving your wings**_

Orihime called from her bed for Uryu to come into her room after he knocked. In her weakened state, she could barely get up to open it herself. His face was stern. They were distant again and it wasn't on her own conditions. His backward idea of keeping her safe was to disappear from her life. Orihime propped herself up a bit to see his face. His eyes refused to meet hers. "I'm going out for a bit to get supplies." Since his attack, she wasn't allowed into his world. She didn't know what _supplies_ meant. It could be blood or weapons or pencils and she would never know. "If you need anything, give me a call. If not, the other Shinigami are still keeping watch along with Urahara. You should be safe for a while." _Even more so with me gone,_ he thought to himself.

He was gone after that. Nothing was up for discussion any more. Uryu didn't apologize or make any motion to make up for his actions.

Orihime tried to let her mind drift away to dreams, but sleep wouldn't come. Her mind was alive with confusion and fury and worry. It pained her to see her friends hurt. Uryu had been spurned time and time again and his heart had grown hard. It surprised her that she couldn't break through to his inner light. Even Ichigo had been wary to let her companionship in at first, but she eventually won him over. Was Uryu's damage beyond repair?

"Something's wrong…" Orihime whispered to herself. Her eyes flicked to the windowsill. The fairy was gone. She remembered setting one down there when she set down for rest. She stilled herself to concentrate on any change in Reiatsu. Her blood pulsed from the strain on her mind. It was different from the pain Sekkiseki stone gave her. This time she could attribute it to her body being so weakened.

Heavy, her body was heavy from the blood loss. She refused to blame Uryu. Orihime's muscles ached as she lifted her torso from the mattress. With shaking nerves, she pivoted enough to get her feet on her cold carpet floor, still tentative and nervous.

"Uryu?" she called to the silent house. "Uryu?" she said again, this time as more of a prayer that he was still about rather than a request for his presence.

As she pushed herself up from her bed, her balance waivered and she found herself on the floor, staring at the rows of shoes in her closet. Orihime scrambled to pick herself up, reaching at the dresses hanging from the rail. She slapped her hand on the mirrored sliding door in hopes that she could crawl up the door and right herself, but it was no use.

"Uryu!" she shouted again. Her phone was across the room.

She slid across the floor on her stomach like a slug until she made it to the door to her bedroom. With a painful cry, she caught both hands onto the doorknob. The wood of the door creaked as she used what little muscle mass she had to pull herself up just enough where she could get some leverage by grabbing onto a table. She hoisted herself forward until she was upright. After a few slapping attempts, she made it to the other side of the door and into the hallway where she could see into the living room.

There he was, the Espada with the missing arm, holding tightly to Tatsuki. He released the hand over Tatsuki's mouth to let her speak. "Orihime, run!" Tatsuki screeched.

The Espada yanked back her hair and gave her a 'tsk'. "I told you you'd get to see her before you died. Why do you have to cause a scene?"

"Don't hurt her!" Orihime begged. She let go of the outside of the door knob to rescue her friend, but she fell to the floor again. "Please! Let her go!"

"Eh eh eh, a life for a life, girly." The beast pulled Tatsuki back further by the hair until her neck was exposed perfectly before his expectant mouth. "Two choices: death, or death beyond death?"

"Don't do it! Don't bite her! I'll give you whatever you want, but don't hurt her!"

"Please, Orihime, just get out of here. Run!" Tatsuki continued to squirm under the Espada's control.

"Nnoitora," he started, "grab the girl, she's gonna give us a fight." Orihime looked over her shoulder and saw the lanky man, the one she would never forget, the one that brought her into this world. When he smiled, Orihime could see every tooth in his mouth, some more fang-like than others.

The one with the eye patch plucked Orihime up and tucked her under his arm. She flailed and kicked, but to no avail. The blue haired Esapada mirrored his actions with the friend. Tatsuki reached for Orihime's hand. For a split second, they held each other, praying that they would live to see their friend and daylight again.

"It's simple. Come with us, and I won't kill all of your friends," the blue haired one said.

Through tears, Orihime nodded.

"Take her out of here."

Nnoitora carried Orihime toward the door. Tatsuki stretched her arm until Orihime was dangling on her middle finger. When their grasp broke, both girls shouted and cried for the other all the more. Once Orihime and Nnoitora were outside, the Espada looked down at his victim. "Let your friends know that if they come after us, we'll pick them off one by one."

He didn't give his actions another thought. In one strong, swift movement, he slammed Tatsuki at the living room window. Her body hit hard against the glass, shattering it in the process. She had no time to gather footing before she felt herself free-fall from the apartment window.

_**My dear you play the clown**_  
_**You're still up in the air**_  
_**And loving your wings**_  
_**What's gonna happen when you come down**_

-Switchblade Symphony


	6. World Outside

_****_Author's Note: I apologize in advance for any typos. I'm gonna go back over this tomorrow. But I really wanted to get this chapter out :) There's a little bit of Aizen history in this chapter, but it's important.

_**Tell me your secret  
What you desire  
I will still be there for you**_

The first ominous sign was that the door to his family's crypt was easy to open. Normally, the heavy stone door slid like a thick we towel on a cement floor. This time, it glided open when Uryu gave it a pull. The stone building was the perfect hiding stop for all of his tools and supplies. After the issue with the door, it didn't surprise Uryu in the slightest that all of his belongings had been stolen from the tomb. His grandfather's urn was robbed of his neurotoxin arrows. His mother's urn was missing his supply of donor blood. The rest of the urns kept other various items, and they had all been stolen.

Uryu had done away with the ashes decades ago. In a drunken rage, he all but set fire to the tomb. He wanted nothing to do with the thought of his previous life. So when the thieves emptied out the urns, they were truly empty.

He tentatively reached for his father's urn. The only thing that this particular urn house was a personal effect from a long time ago. When his mother had been killed by an Immortal, she died still clutching her rosary to her chest. Before the Quincy clan gave her a proper funeral, Uryu snatched the rosary from about her neck and tucked it in his pocket. He never told his father or grandfather. Up until he was assimilated, Uryu used it to pray every night. He couldn't wait to his mother's face when he made it to Heaven.

The urn was not empty when he opened it, but the rosary was gone. Whoever had ransacked the crypt left a puzzling clue. Coiled at the bottom of the vase lay a soft, red lock of Orihime's radiant hair along with a cellular phone. Uryu recognized the little crafting jewels on the case of the phone. It was Orihime's phone. He activated the phone and the screen lit up. Uryu attempted to search recent calls to find a clue, but the memory had been completely wiped. Her texts, her call history, and all of her media had been wiped. The only contact was a phone number marked 'CALL ME'

Whoever the culprit was obviously didn't want to remain hidden. Uryu didn't waste a moment in calling the cryptic contact. After a few rings, a smooth, menacing voice answered from the other line. "Hello, Quincy."

"I had a feeling it was you, Aizen. The whole ordeal seemed so…_dramatic_," Uryu hissed.

"Well, I have always had a flair for theatrics."

"Where is Orihime?" demanded Uryu.

Uryu could barely make out Aizen's low cackle. "You shouldn't have left her alone. You made it too easy. I sent my errand boys out to remind Orihime's friends not to get in our way, but you, Quincy, I wanted to give you something a little more personal."

"If you hurt her-"

"You'll what? Kill me? With all of your weapons? Don't be hasty, Quincy. We've taken everything. You know as well as I do that my men are well equipped and eager to end your life should you step foot in Las Noches. What do you have to say for yourself? You let the most valuable person in the world slip through your fingers."

Uryu didn't have an answer.

"Don't come for her, Uryu. That's the best advice we have for you. Just let us have her for the few short decades she has left and move on."

"You'll use her to fuel you army. I can't stand by and let that happen. I would be undoing all of my work."

"Yes, and let's not forget that you'd never get to see her precious face again. Or is the battle more important that your friendship…your _love_ for her? The life of a Quincy always one of quiet desolation. You hunt until the day you die. Remind me, Uryu, what are the rules for marriage within the Quincy clan? Your wife must give you at least one Quincy son? Your father was so determined to have you that he bought your mother off a slave wagon. Once you were born, he gave up pretending to be a husband to her. He didn't even flinch when she was captured by the Immortals."

"How dare you tell such lies! My father couldn't care less about the Quincy name." Uryu was all but shouting into the phone. Still Aizen just cackled.

"Your father quit being a Quincy because he was too weak. Your father was smart enough to remember that his life was too short to do any real damage to our community. And most importantly, he remembered that alone was how he was born and how he would die. And from what I gather, the only knowledge he ever imparted to his dear son was how to be cold and nihilistic. Why come for her, Uryu? You know the Seireitei will eventually find their own cure. It's just a matter of time before genetics creates another Orihime Inoue. What makes this one so special?"

_**And tell me you need it  
Tell me something you're not  
I will still be there for you**_

"Dad, be honest, is Tatsuki going to be okay?" Ichigo asked. They were just outside a sterile room where Tatsuki was resting, covered in bandages and casts after her near-fatal fall. A few broken bones in various places, a few scratches, and a decent sized bump on her head were a few of things that had been diagnosed. A passerby called the police immediately after they saw Tatsuki hit the ground from two floors above. When she started screaming about vampires attacking her and abducting her friend, the emergency workers knew they would have to take her to Isshin Kurosaki to keep the incident under wraps.

Isshin didn't want to have to see another innocent friend of Ichigo's to end up in his clinic after what happened with Orihime. He didn't think he could lie again about what was happening. After he treated her wounds and gave her some medicine to help her sleep, he phone for the Seireitei. They reminded him that they would have their closest Shinigami take care of the case. It didn't sit well with Isshin. Every move they made was for the sake of their own and finding the cure. They weren't too worried about human life.

"She's going to be okay, Ichigo. Did the Shinigami tell you anything about what they would be doing about Orihime?"

"Yeah…they did." Ichigo's fist clenched into a tight ball. "They said they would have to kill her. They said she knew too much. They said she would be too great of an asset to the Espada. They got what they needed from her, and now they don't care."

It was just as Isshin had feared. "You're going to go after her, aren't you?" Isshin could see the determination in his half-immortal son's eyes. They had been training day and night with Urahara to control his new powers and strength. His son's eyes were intense and fierce. Ichigo was unwavering in his desire to protect his friends and family. Ichigo finally nodded in response. "I figured you would. You're as hard headed as I am. I'd go with you, but someone's gotta protect the home front. That's why I called the Quincy." Isshin paused when he felt Uryu's familiar presence coming from behind the front door to the clinic. "He's right on cue. Come in, Uryu."

Uryu arrived, head down in shame, but still resolute on his plans for rescuing Orihime. Ichigo's anger was quick to get the best of him. His fist pounded firm against Uryu's jaw. Before Uryu could sooth the bruising pain, Ichigo attacked again, this time making contact with his stomach and knocking the wind form his lungs. "How could you let them catch her?" he screamed.

Uryu was in no mood to get harassed again. He caught Ichigo's fist in his hand before the boy could get another punch in. He squeezed until he could feel a few knuckles pop loudly in his grasp. "How could _you_ let her get caught? I thought you were going to get stronger and protect everyone." Ichigo could sense the mocking and condescending tone in Uryu's voice. "You think you're the only one who wants to protect their friends? You think I didn't train and struggle to keep everyone safe? Well no one is perfect. Innocent people are always going to get hurt around you. That's the real curse of immortality. But I bet the Seireitei left that out of their handbook." He released Ichigo harshly, pushing him back against the wall with a thud. "And now I bet you're thinking of storming head first into Las Noches to rescue her. But you don't know where it is. You don't know how many Espada are inside. You don't know who the leader is and even if you did, you don't know how strong he is."

"Stop fighting, you idiots!" The three men turned and Tatsuki was standing in the doorway of her room. Isshin remembered wrapping her up in traction before locking her room for the evening. He remembered all of her wounds. Now all of it was gone. She looked as well as ever.

"Tatsuki? What happened. You were a mess half an hour ago?" Isshin inspected her vein where the IV had been. Her skin was prestine like she had never been pierced.

"A week ago, Orihime gave me a tube filled with her blood. I thought it was gross and weird and couldn't figure out why she gave me such a strange gift. But she told me to drink it if I ever got hurt. Then she told me about the vampires." She showed the men the empty tube. "I just drank it and all of my wounds disappeared." She turned her attention to Uryu, "You know where she is, don't you?" He nodded. "Well then, you're gonna go and get her or I'm gonna kick your ass."

Ichigo scoffed cockily, "Tatsuki, we're vampires, you can't-"

Tatsuki interrupted him with a swift kick to his groin, "And I'm pissed off! Orihime is my best friend. She may just be a lab rat to you, but not to me. So you two are gonna work together and get her back." She held Ichigo and Uryu in each hand by their collars. "You got that?" She dropped them to the floor like trash. It was her nature to be gruff and rude when she was angry, especially when it came to protecting her friends. "You both have pissed me off _beyond reason_. You," she said while jabbing a finger into Ichigo's collar bone. "I knew there was something funny about the day she got attacked. And _you_ knew. We could have protected her together. We're her best friends. But you had to be all Batman about it and go alone. Now look at yourself! And you," she started, not sparing Uryu in the slightest. He smacked him hard against his face. He had to readjust his glasses she knocked off his nose. "My best friend went on and on about how you would never let anything bad happen to her. About how smart and strong and caring you were. Then you just _walked out on her_. I once broke a boy's nose for standing Orihime up at a high school dance. Just imagine what I want to do to the guy who got her kidnapped!"

Uryu picked himself up off the floor and met her gaze. He rearranged himself all the while glaring at her through his tussled hair. "I think I get the point, Tatsuki. We'll find her." Tatsuki appreciated that he didn't argue further before leaving the clinic.

She lingered in the doorway, arms folded angrily over her chest and sneering at Ichigo, who was still on the floor. Isshin laughed a little at his son's shape. "There's no way he's ready to go against the Espada," Isshin stated.

"I know, dad, thanks. I need more training still."

"Oh it's not that. I just mean, how are you gonna beat a vampire if you get your ass kicked by a hundred pound girl."

Tatsuki threw one more fist, this time laying into Ichigo's snarky father. "You think this is the first time I whipped your son? You'd best instill some fear in this man, Ichigo."

_**And say you believe it  
All of your lies  
Tell me you feel it  
And don't compromise  
I will still be there for you**_

Orihime peered out the window of the car. Sitting across from her were two familiar faces, the first Espada to attack her and the second. "You promise you'll leave my friends alone if I go with you?"

The first one, a slender man named Nnoitora, slyly grinned, "Of course, pet. Aizen only wants to protect your gift."

The second, the man with wild colored hair, Grimmjow, shook his head with a _humph_, "It's a little late to be worried about that. You've already gotten in the damn car."

"Now, now, Grimmy, Master Aizen requested that we be civil with her until we make it back home." Nnoitora continued to stare at the girl as though she were food. "What do you think, Grimmjow? How long do you think she'll last in our little lair? I'm worried about her safety, all those blood thirsty boys crawling about."

Grimmjow rolled his eyes. "I don't see anything to worry about. Your eyes haven't left her neck since she came in. I doubt you'll let anyone touch her."

"I'm right here, you know," Orihime reminded.

"Shut up," Grimmjow quipped. "Regardless, I was asked to be thankful."

"For what?" she asked.

A sturdy hand whipped Orihime's cheek, staining it red. "For giving me my arm back. And I thought I told you to shut up."

"Try and get some sleep, pet. We have some time before we get you to your new home." Nnoitora put his slim fingers on her leg and she cringed. "Hmm, I did leave a little bit of a scar when last we met. I bet that pisses your little Quincy off. You're damaged goods, sweetie."

"I wouldn't be too sure," started Grimmjow. He slipped one of his fingers into Orihime's collar to pull it down and expose the little scabs where Uryu had bitten her. "Hmm…who gave you that little courtesy bite?"

Nnoitora continued to tease, "Oooh, been cheating on me?"

"It was an accident," was all Orihime could say. She shooed Grimmjow's hand away to cover her wound. It didn't hurt though the scabs were tight and unyielding each time she moved. Thinking about the whole ordeal had been putting her head in a spin each time her subconscious mind tried to bring it up again. Sure, the bite hurt a little, but up until that moment, things felt so wonderfully right. She enjoyed spending time with him and having physical contact with him. Cutting down his emotional walls gave her a weird sense of pride. But now it was time to protect him. "Tell them not to come for me. I don't want anyone to get hurt and you guys promised."

"Yeah, yeah," Grimmjow began, "I sent 'em a message to back off."

"Try and enjoy yourself. You're going to go to a castle and meet the most powerful man on earth. It's like a fairy tale." Nnoitora kept his hand on her leg, still watching the vein in her neck.

"What kind of fairy tales are you reading?" Grimmjow scoffed.

"Who is this master of yours?"

"An ex-Shinigami. Got tired of taking orders from the same piece of shit who damned us all in the first place. Kurotsuchi had used him as a lab rat to create a super vampire, an Espada, and Aizen turned it back on him."

"And Aizen thinks I can cure you all?" Orihime asked.

"_Cure _us? There's nothing wrong with us. We're gods of fucking wrath." Nnoitora laughed at Grimmjow's pride and Grimmjow grinned in response. "We just need a nurse around when we go loosing arms kicking Shinigami ass."

_**You're light in my dreams  
Light up my skin  
You're so far away  
You're holding it in**_

It was time to start strategizing. Much to his reluctance, Ichigo agreed to meet up with Uryu and devise a plan to save Orihime. Ichigo was satisfied with find the Espada, slitting their throats, and rescuing the girl. It was a suicidal, lone wolf plan that would probably end in disaster, but that was his mode of operation. Uryu nearly burst with happiness at the thought of being rid of Ichigo, but Rukia, who had been left behind to finish the Karakura Town investigation, wouldn't stand for it.

She insisted on following Ichigo to Orihime's apartment to discuss the invasion of Las Noches. The whole walk over, she hissed about the danger and implications. If Ichigo wanted to remain on the good side of the Seireitei, he'd have to let Orihime go or else he'd be branded a traitor. Not to mention, siding with the Quincy wasn't an accepted idea either.

Ichigo didn't bother knocking on the door to Orihime's apartment. Stepping inside the home, he cringed to see Uryu sitting on Orihime's couch so comfortably. She let him in her home, she vowed her friendship, and then he let her get kidnapped. He had no right to find contentment in Orihime's home when her life was in danger.

But Uryu didn't see that way. The apartment held her smell. Her homework was still on the floor, unfinished, with little doodles of UFO's in the corner. Earlier, when he went to the kitchen to pour a glass of water, he noticed a tube of her lipgloss on the counter. He couldn't figure what compelled him to open up the tube and sniff. It smelled like watermelon. Uryu smudged a dab of the makeup on his finger and pinched his fingers together. It was thick and sticky. He laughed to himself at the thought of kissing her and getting the pink mess on his face. The point, he realized, was that he did want to kiss her. More than anything, he wanted to be in her company.

Ichigo jumped to the point without hesitation. "What are we gonna do? How are we gonna find her?" Ichigo asked in a brash and panicked voice.

Uryu pointed an accusing finger at Rukia, "Get your superiors on the phone. They have technology to find her."

"You know as well as I do that the Seireitei doesn't want anything to do with her. They're not as concerned about the miracle blood until they finish their experiments. She couldn't even cure this half vampire." Rukia motioned to Ichigo. "Besides, you said it yourself, _we're_ not partners."

Uryu gazed at the empty space on the couch where Orihime relaxed with him. How did he let her slip in that instant? How could the Espada be acting so quickly? How did she keep him two minds about everything? He wanted to protect her and help her, but he was tired of how she kept him so emotional. He hadn't worried in centuries. He hadn't loved in decades.

_Love_.

He wanted to be a sure about how he felt about her, but he had nothing to compare it to. He _loved_ his mother and grandfather, but that was a feeling of admiration and respect. He _loved_ sunsets and the way they cast a shadow over all the nonsense the day gathered. Uryu _respected_ her courage. He _admired_ her unconditional reverence for her friends and family. He had called her beautiful once. He had smiled at her and held her hand and told her secrets. And she did the same. She reciprocated whatever these feelings were.

And someday…she would die. And none of these mortal troubles will be with her in eternal sleep, but they would follow him for life.

"Hello? Are you still paying attention?" Ichigo asked.

Uryu's longing switched off to place anger on Rukia. "Who invited you?"

"I'm responsible for filing the case on Karakura Town. The Seireitei will want to know if Ichigo defects." She said this all with a scowl.

"I told you already, I'm gonna go and you can't stop me." Ichigo remained stern in his decision. His eyes told her all she needed to know.

"Listen, Ichigo. I know you want to find your friend, but you can't go against the Seireitei's orders. Instead, why don't you find a way to work with us?" For once, Rukia showed genuine concern. She placed a consoling hand on his shoulder and peered up at him with sweet eyes. "Don't let this get out…but why don't you try talking to Captain Zaraki?"

"Jingle Bells? That guy almost killed me when I was training why would he help us?"

"It's worth a try, Ichigo. I don't…I don't want you to get yourself killed." It would have been a sweet moment if Rukia didn't squash it directly afterwards. "What about you?" she said, aiming her question at Uryu. "Planning on getting yourself killed?"

"For a good cause. I won't live with the pain of knowing I can…I will…" his voice trailed off to a whisper, "…never have her." His voice peaked again, full of desperate rage for the Espada who stole her. "I'll die if it means she will have a safe century to herself. Humans have such short lives. My immortality is worthless compared to her short lived happiness." Uryu clenched his fist over and over. "You two should speak to Kenpachi. You may be surprised to find the lengths he would go to stand up to injustice. As for me, I need some rest."

_**I'm looking around  
Watching it spin  
Got my world outside  
It's changing  
Something within**_

Orihime was sat before a long wooden table filled with endless delicacies. Had they been an offering from anyone else, she may have partaken in the celebration. But they were gifts from Aizen. Awaiting his entrance, she stared intently at the large oak door separating the grand dining hall from wherever he was lurking. She wanted to discuss the terms of her stay. She wanted to know how long he would keep her. She wanted to know if he would assimilate her into his Espada clan. Most of all, she wanted to know her friends were safe.

As she twiddled with her sterling silver fork, the doors parted and Aizen stood across from her. Maybe it was because Nnoitora had mentioned likening her situation to a fairy tale or maybe it was because she had seen Kurotsuchi, but Orihime had expected him to be a towering ogre. Instead, Aizen was a sturdy built but lean man with a calm complexion and slight smile on his lips. His entire person was poised, no hair out of place, no blemish to speak of. Maybe that was what made him so terrifying, no visible flaws for her to attack.

"Hello Orihime," he said. His voice was as smooth as the porcelain tea cup he drank from. "I understand if you do not wish to eat. I offer all this only so you can see all the trinkets that will be at your disposal. These are gifts for you because, after all, you are quite a gift to me. Anything you need will be provided and I will not let my men hurt you. Do you have any requests?"

"M-m-my friends," she mumbled.

"Are safe. I figured you'd stake your life against theirs so I can assure you that I will not let harm come to them…that is…if they mind their own business."

"But-" she protested.

"You are now my property and a man has a right to protect the things he owns." He set his tea down sternly and Orihime knew his judgment was terrifyingly final. "Now, anything else?"

"I guess…it would be better if I kept quiet then, so they don't come for me. Do you think…I can see them one last time before I stay here…permanently?"

She hadn't seen him move to her side, but he was there, placing a cool hand on her burning cheek. "Child, of course. You may see one and only one person before you retire here. You have two options. You can go, escorted by all of my Espada to ensure that the Shinigami and the Quincy don't steal you away, or you may see the Quincy tonight while he sleeps wearing a Sekiseki stone around your neck to guard your scent." Aizen handed her a napkin to dab at the tear rolling down her cheek, "He was who you wanted to see, right? You've gotten quite comfortable with his presence, haven't you? When's the last time you spent the day with Tatsuki? And what of Ichigo, is three a crowd with Rukia around?"

"No! And please…don't try and turn me against my friends." When the first fresh tear rolled down her cheek, Aizen caught it like one would a snowflake on the tip of his finger. He knew better than to keep a butterfly under glass, but he refused to let her stray. "I love my friends so very, very much. I would never speak ill of any of them. I know I'll make a lot of people sad by staying here and helping you. But with Uryu it's different." She pictured the first time she met him. She remembered the feel of his Reiatsu – the mixture of slight terror and a trustworthy calm. If she concentrated hard enough, she her body would tingle with that feeling just at the thought of his name. "He came to Karakura to protect me. The Shinigami wanted to examine me like a cadaver, but Uryu just wanted to protect me…only to have me run straight into your arms."

"You're hardly in my arms, child. If you were, I wouldn't be so worried about them coming to find you. This is all metaphorical, of course." He stood and looked down at her red eyes and quivering bottom lip. "Have you decided?"

"I'll see Uryu…alone." Orihime noticed her hands in her lap shaking with the weight of her decision. "Thank you, Lord Aizen."

"No Orihime, thank you. Gracious appreciation is very rare in the walls of this castle." He smiled warmly. It was hard to believe he was a bad man. "We're alike, you and I. We were both given gifts that seemed to be a plague at first. But now, together, we can determine for ourselves how they can be useful to the whole world. Orihime, do not doubt, even for a moment, that you are immensely important and special."

_**Tell me you reach it  
Some of the time  
What you're searching for**_

_Europe July 1822_

"_You will send for a doctor, won't you Mr. Ichimaru?" the young girl asked. She was barely over the age of seventeen, though it was hardly noticed on the Aizen Estate. Her birthday had passed without a single greeting, just as it had every year since. She was just a maid. It was her place to keep quiet and obedient. But Momo Hinamori sometimes took that rule to new levels. She doted on her master Sosuke Aizen like one would a lover. She couldn't imagine a life without him. Even with his marriage approaching, Momo refused to treat him with any less obvious affection._

_Aizen had fallen ill that summer with a rare sickness that even the best doctors of the time couldn't diagnose. Momo posted a letter to Aizen's closest friend, Gin Ichimaru, urging him to use his political pull to find a doctor that would help her master. Aizen refused to do it himself, saying it was his time to meet his maker. Gin, a strange man by nature, agreed to send for one of his personal physicians who was based out of Asia. If Aizen could hold out until the doctor arrived, all would be relieved. Momo never questioned his intentions. He and Aizen were business partners. She assumed his health was key to his financial success. The darkness that waited never came into her knowledge._

"_Of course, Miss Momo. Your master will feel better upon the instant my doctor arrives." In a rare display of affection, Momo hugged Gin tightly, barely coming up to his lean chest. With her eyes closed tightly with warm gratitude, she never saw the silver haired man eyeing her neck possessively. "Will you speak to your master on my behalf and let him know help is on the way?"_

_Momo nodded and all but skipped back to the estate to meet with her master. Aizen was in his rose garden, sat calmly in his wheel chair facing a fountain. There was a red blanket over his lap, which Momo had knitted herself as a Christmas gift. Momo smiled at his hands resting gently atop her gift, then cringed at the site of his wedding band. To think that he had been engaged to anyone other than herself was a terrible thought. _

"_Master!" she called to him. "I have lovely news!"_

"_It must be lovely indeed to have you dressed so bleak on such a beautiful day." Indeed, Momo wore black from head to toe as part of her uniform. She looked like a shadow cast over all of the rays of sunshine bathing the garden. _

"_Our friend, Mr. Ichimaru is sending for his personal physician to look at you. He says this doctor is like an extension of God. His healing power is so wonderful it could make the blind see and-"_

"_-Momo!" he shouted. She had never seen her master's eyes carry such distress. Whatever was paining him was stronger than his sickness. "You must never see that man ever again."_

"_But sir, he has been so kindly to your estate. Is he not your very best friend?"_

"_Undeniably he is, Momo, and for that reason, I will care his tragic secrets to my grave." Aizen twisted his wedding band around on his finger. "I want you to prepare the house. When this doctor arrives, I want no one in the house."_

"_What of your wife, sir?"_

"_Send her away as well. And you too, Momo. No one is to be in the house, do you understand."_

"_Master, I do not understand. I sense…you feel you are in danger."_

"_It's not me that I'm worried about." He did his best to feign sweetness again for her sake. "Now go, you silly girl. Help the others with their chores so they might enjoy the rest of this day."_

_**Does the love that surrounds you  
Get you down?  
Kick you to the floor?**_

_Europe November 1822_

_Winter came quickly that year, as did the mysterious doctor. Every attendant of the house along with the lady of the manor was prepared to leave that evening. Momo stayed behind for a few hours to help receive the doctor and his cavalry. His carriage arrived right on time at noon. Momo stood in the snow at the foot of the path, the tight black bun in her hair dusted by the falling sky. _

_The carriage came to halt before her. After a bit of shuffling from inside, a door opened, revealing a young silver haired boy. He was around Momo's height and seemed to be her age as well. His eyes were the must serene shade of blue and combated the scowl on his young face. "Is this the location of Sosuke Aizen?" Momo nodded quietly. "We have arrived, Captain Kurotsuchi."_

"_Well don't just sit there, fetch our things and get us inside. While I do enjoy the winter cold, I've never been a fan of snow." The voice that replied was menacing and shrill. _

_Captain? Momo wondered to herself._

_Her thoughts were interrupted by the arguing boy. He used a hushed voice that Momo could barely hear. "Need I remind you that I am your equal in rank, Kurotsuchi. I will not be treated like common help no matter what the humans think. I am here on direct orders of the Seireitei to make sure you don't do anything stupid."_

"_Can I assist you gentleman?" Momo asked. _

"_Yes, if you would," the boy began. "My name is Toshiro Hitsugaya, by the way. Might you be Mrs. Aizen?" She wanted to say yes. She wanted to say of course. She wanted to display her ring finger proudly with the declaration of Aizen's love. She forced herself to shake her head. "For the better, I suppose. We don't want anyone getting in the way of us while we're here."_

_Kurotsuchi was used to having people shrink at the sight of him in all of his adornments and cosmetics, but to say that Momo was scared was an understatement. She shuddered at his cloaked figure against the pure white tranquility of the winter snow. To keep from staring, she fetched the bags and sent the carriage on its way. "Is Captain Ichimaru within? I won't be expected to wait," he hissed._

"_Captain?" Momo questioned. "Were you men with the Navy?"_

"_Hardly," was the only answer she received from the doctor. _

"_Umm…well. Mr. Ichimaru is inside. He is very expectant of your arrival-"_

"_-Take our coats and put out all of the fires in the house immediately. Bring in fresh snow if you have to, but do try and keep the temperature as low as possible while we are." Kurotsuchi tossed his cloaks at Momo and headed up the stairs. He didn't even wait for direction. He seemed to be following a scent like a dog. _

_Toshiro shrugged off his excess garments and hung them up himself. "Will you be staying with us this evening?"_

"_I have been instructed to leave after your carriage had been received…however…I feel I should stay. In case you are in need of anything."_

"_We are quite capable, young lady. I too think it wise that you should leave."_

_Momo struggled with his words. "There is no need to condescend me, Mr. Hitsugaya. I may be a lowly maid, but I am just as old as you are. You can level with me. If you feel I am stepping on toes, please let me know."_

_It struck a nerve, the idea of being the same age as Momo. She was green and had barely lived a full life. Hitsugaya had been assimilated into the ranks of the Shinigami long ago. By now he had even assimilated a lieutenant of his own. He was old, to put it simply. "Listen, girl, you don't understand who you are dealing with at this moment. Keep to yourself, should you decide to stay. And remember this, Kurotsuchi likes to keep his work secret. If you do, by chance, wander across a terrible discovery, keep your mouth shut."_

_**So tell me you see it  
With your own eyes  
Tell me the sky is falling down  
In your world**_**_  
I will still be there for you_**

_Europe November 1822_

_Kurotsuchi tapped the needle once. Aizen's vein, displayed generously, was ready to receive the doctor's toxin. "The Espada gene…"he breathed. He loved the sound of his clever invention on his lips. "Aizen, I hope you are prepared to become the most powerful man in the world."_

_Aizen halted the injection, staring at his longtime friend, Gin. "I have kept your secret since the day I met you as a boy. Now you must be genuine with me, Gin…why have I been chosen for this experiment?"_

_Kurotsuchi rolled his eyes, but obliged the man all the same. Gin was confident that his friend would not back down from the offer he had been given. "Your military record is impressive. Your political prowess is respected. And your personality is… endearing. We need you to be a figurehead for our kind, Aizen. This strand of the virus will give you the ability of a god. You will be able to assimilate anyone on contact. Truly, Kurotsuchi is right, you will be the most powerful man in the world. Not to mention whatever ailment is plaguing you now will disappear forever. Nothing will ever touch you again, my friend."_

_Toshiro could sense the maid girl outside the door. Her Reiatsu called to him. He associated her with an innocent enchantment and he could feel her resonating behind the door. If he sensed her, no doubt the other captains did as well. He knew if she remained too long she would end up food to help Aizen transition smoothly. _

_Aizen beckoned for the doctor to continue. The fluid dripping into his body from the needle felt like fire swimming in his blood. It was the first time anyone had seen Sosuke Aizen lose his composure. He thrashed about, ripping the needle from his fresh wound and tossing it to the floor. Like a wolf howling to the moon, he cried out in a feral manner. He could feel his world shifting into a red hue. He swore there were parasites crawling just under his skin. He scratched at his arm with dull nails, but couldn't relieve himself of the sensation. His body was hot as his blood circulated faster and faster. Aizen's mouth dripped foam though he felt dry as though he had never tasted water. He could live with being in his late twenties for eternity, but would he have to put up with this pain and hunger as well._

"_Oh Momo, my dear. I trust you are just outside?" Gin called._

_Toshiro shook his head, "No, we cannot do this. Surely, you have some rations available. We cannot allow him to harm a mortal, that is part of our code."_

"_So put it in your report, Hitsugaya. Can't you see the man is in need of sustenance," Gin replied. _

_Outside, Momo struggled with her urge to protect her master. She bit down on her finger to keep from shrieking at the sound of his cries of pain. She could hear them making a commotion as well. She worried for the safety of Aizen. If he needed her, she would go to him. With great caution, she pushed open the door to her master's chamber. _

"_This is wrong, and you both know it," said Toshiro. _

_Aizen sat up from the floor on his hind legs like an animal about to attack. He wanted fresh blood and he could smell it in Momo, but when he saw her sweet, guiltless face, he begged that she be taken away from his presence. She fell to her knees upon witnessing his distress. She could tell he was in anguish. Momo's eyes watered and tears poured without end. "No…please…god no," was all Aizen could say to everyone in the room._

"_Master! What is happening? What have you monsters done to him?"_

"_Momo…I told you to leave…I told you it wasn't safe."_

_Gin rolled his eyes, "She is an insolent little child. Well, no use crying over spilled milk. You need blood and she's obviously too stupid to leave of her own free will."_

"_We couldn't allow her to leave anyway, Gin," Kurotsuchi added. "She has seen and heard too much."_

_Gin presented Momo to Aizen by the throat. "That's it, Aizen, if you don't drink her, I will, and then she'll be dead and you'll still be hungry."_

_It was all that needed to be said. Aizen chomped down on Momo's exposed neckline like a decadent steak prepared as a meal for his liking. Her blood hit his lips and poured into his mouth just the same. It didn't taste metallic or foreign. It was sweet and refreshing._

"_You must drink all of her, Aizen, or else she will be assimilated," said Kurotsuchi._

_Aizen had already stopped drinking her. Her body fell limp on the floor. "I will not kill her," he growled, blood dripping from his open mouth._

_Gin helped the new captain up from the floor and dusted him off. Kurotsuchi helped carry the man from the room, leaving Toshiro to nurse what was left of Momo. "She is dead either way," he whispered._

_**You're light in my dreams  
Light up my skin  
Waiting so long  
Time to begin**_

Uryu didn't mean to doze off that night. He had gone out to train for the fight. When he returned and packed his bags, Orihime's empty bed called to him. He collapsed atop the mattress, drowning in the remains of her light scent. Before his eyes shut, he remembered seeing a single strand of her radiant red hair spread across her white pillow. Once, when they play wrestled in that hotel room in LA, her hair fell across his face. Now this was all that remained.

Las Noches wasn't far in distance nor in time, but he would need a plane and a very good map. The Espada had a fleet of transportation at their disposal which would get them across the countries in a short time, but Uryu only had his two feet. They also had an army and all he had was his bow and a tote bag full of arrows. It would have been cliché for him to say that this suicide mission would be his last.

His glasses were set down on the night stand and he was snoring very lightly with his arm lying across his chest. That was how Orihime found him when she snuck back into her apartment. He looked so comfortable sleeping in her bed…he looked so natural. The alluring scent of his cologne smelled like it had been there for years, like this was where he belonged. She wanted to wake him and let him know that there was a place in this world where he could be accepted for who he was and what he did. That place was sleeping soundly in Orihime's bed.

The Sekkiseki stone had obviously been working since he didn't stir in the least, nor did the fairies she used as security. Orihime noticed his weapons in the corner. Aizen was at the bottom of the stairs outside. He gave her until sun up to say what she wanted, but he would be waiting in case she went back on their agreement.

"Uryu…" she whispered. "Please don't go looking for me. Just stay here and protect my friends. Tatsuki…you'll like her…her and Chad. They'll accept you just like I did. And you can stay in this apartment for as long as you want." She reached out her hand to touch his snoozing forehead but she drew back. "Remember how I said I wanted to live all those lifetimes like you could? And you told me that I should I make the most of the one I had? I've been thinking…could I love the same person all those lives? Because I only want one lifetime now…and I want to share all of it with you."

"Why?" he asked quietly, without opening his pale eyes.

Orihime panicked slightly, "Uryu, no, don't wake up. They're watching."

He rolled onto his side to guard his mouth with the blanket and keep his face away from the open window. "So long as I keep my eyes shut and my Reiatsu stable, they will not be alarmed." He wanted to open his eyes so badly to see her before they took her back. He would have rescued her right then and there if he felt he could get to his weapons in time. "Please…Orihime…tell me why."

"I didn't think you'd hear me when I came in."

"That stone can block your Reiatsu and your blood scent…but not you're smell, that perfume you wear." He sighed as quietly as he could. "Why can't you say these things to my face when I'm awake?"

"Because you take them away from me. I knew I was developing feelings for you, but I knew you would never let me. So I just didn't say anything."

"You're right…just as I take away the feelings I have for you. I meant it when I said you were beautiful." As if she were reading his tormented mind, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Leave me now. Tomorrow will be the fight of my life, and I would rather that compliment be the last thing you should hear from me."

"No. I want to stay here as long as I can. I want to be by your side."

"For another 80 years until you die a sad, lonely, mortal death?"

Orihime didn't want to cry but it seemed no use. She didn't know what to say to change his mind. Maybe he was too cynical to be helped. But there was still good, he knew it, he just was too stubborn to fight for it. Only drastic measures would salvage this moment. She needed him to understand that she would go through hell and back to give him a mortality he could spend with her. She pushed his shoulder back until he was facing the ceiling with his eyes clamped shut.

Orihime locked Uryu's lips onto hers by kneeling down and kissing him passionately. She hadn't kissed anyone in a while, and, in truth, neither had Uryu. But they managed to relearn the process very quickly. She didn't expect to pull away when it felt so wonderful to finally have physical contact with him, but she had to, to speak again. "Uryu…promise me that you'll still fight to have your mortality, even if they take mine. Don't let me die in vain."

Her lips gave him a lifted spirit that he thought had disappeared years ago. He craved her touch, her long to have her near him whenever. "I won't let you die, Orihime. I promise I will rescue you."

"No, no, no, you can't come to Las Noches. I can't have anyone get hurt."

"It's not your choice to make. My life is filled with my choices to make. I know now that there is no meaning in my continuing to live if you are not there to light my days." Still blind to her presence, he felt around until he grasped her hand in his. He pressed it against his fluttering heart. "I had grown used to the feeling of my heart pounding fast because of the infection, but when I'm around you, it's different. It's never beat so fast and so slow before, not for anyone. Only you."

She kissed him again. Sometime between letting their tongues mingle and allowing his long fingers to weave into her hair, he let his eyes open and his Reiatsu slip.

And Aizen was upon them as swift as ever.

_**So tell me the reasons  
Show me the signs  
Say you desire  
Desire only now  
In this world  
It's our world**_

_**-The Devlins**_


	7. Blue

Plastic blue invitations in my room.  
I've been waiting here for you.  
Reservations made for two.  
Sunlight fading.

"Orihime, please, sit," Aizen offered. They were again before his grand oak table, long and solid. Tea had been provided for the pair. Though she had been sat just across from the king of Las Noches, she felt small, as though her entire being shrank in his presence. Orihime trembled, suddenly aware of his Reiatsu that was crushing her own. It wasn't warm like Uryuu's or familiar like Ichigo's. It was the same feeling one might get if they had some upon a wolf alone in the woods, too afraid to move and too afraid to stay still. "I can sense your fear," he muttered through a small laugh.

She didn't enjoy his patronizing. Orihime gritted her teeth and responded, "I was never good at masking my Reiatsu."

"Nor is your lover," he said, laughing again. He felt her spiritual pressure flair at this as well. "Oh? Is it not, as your generation says, official? Or does it just come as a surprise that anyone could ever be the lover of that…beast."

"He's not a beast! He's more human than you'll ever be."

Orihime expected to be silenced or slapped for such insolence, but Aizen wasn't that sort of man she quickly learned. "We kill the ones we love, him and I. We keep our enemies closer and our friends in graves. Easier to keep track of that way."

The fear was quickly overshadowed by a building anger. She could feel a rage rise up within her, one she feared she would not contain. She continually clenched and unclenched her fists. She even wiggled her toes about in her shoes, trying to keep her mind from saying terrible things she didn't mean. She hated him because he kidnapped her and threatened her friends and hurt Uryuu. But beyond that, she knew, she didn't know a thing about Aizen, his past or his plans for himself. Sure, he wanted to rule over the world, by why want all that power. Again, her tongue escaped her, "The difference is he feels remorse for the things he's done."

"I once killed someone I loved." Aizen reach for his tea, then swirled his finger around in the brew, testing the temperature. "She was turned into a vampire and I had to stare my conviction in the face every day. Uryuu knows nothing of remorse or sympathy, but I will let you in on the great secret of all the immortals." Finally, Aizen put his cup to his lips and inhaled a short sip. He seemed happy with this brew, the temperature, the taste, the sweetness. "Everyone else in the world dies, so why care about them?" Orihime could not hear a trace of sorrow in his voice, now did she sense he was lying when he spoke. "Only immortals will endure as time progresses, so we look out for ourselves. This is why I have brought you into this world of mine. I will not lie, if a man took your life in this castle, I would murder him. Then I would wait, because I can, until another genetic wonder such as yourself came about, and I would bring that person here to do the same as I will do with you. You would do well to rid yourself of any fearful or melancholy thoughts, because of the single fact that you are special to _me_. I will let no harm to come to you. I promised you that, and I meant it."

Aizen watched her as her mind wrapped around new revelations. The question of how Uryu could possible love her was upon everyone's lips, but she really had no plausible answer to any of it. She simply knew that he did. Orihime was quiet, so Aizen remained quiet as well. After a few short moments of contemplation, Orihime thought it wise to change the subject all together. "Why have you brought me here this morning?"

"Ah, yes, I wanted you to become better acclimated with your new home, which is why I have assigned my best man to be your companion while you are with us. Ulquiorra, you may come in now."

Right on cue, a slender man with piercing green eyes and dark hair sauntered in and met at his master's side. His white shirt was open just enough for Orihime to make out a number tattooed on his chest, four. She remembered Grimmjow having a number tattooed on him as well. Had Aizen numbered them by rank or the order in which they had come to him? Ulquiorra didn't seem like the kind of man who would answer such a question. His face showed no hint of a future companionship, so it was silly of Aizen to label him as such. Orihime had become more acclimated with sensing spiritual pressures by now. Certain Reiatsus she could pick up on by relating them to certain feelings she experienced in the past.

When Orihime was seven, a black bird landed on her drive way. She ran out to greet it, thinking it would like a friend, but when she approached, it stared into her eyes. Young Orihime found she couldn't move, caught in his lingering gaze. She slowly reached her hand toward his beak, and the bird bit her, then flew off. All those feelings mixed together to create the Reiatsu associated with Ulquiorra.

"Orihime, you should head back to your room and find the splendors I have left for you there. Ulquiorra will be with you momentarily and you can get acquainted with him." Orihime nodded, not to follow orders, but to be done with the both of them for the time being. Ulquiorra didn't move to exit, knowing there was more to his orders than his master had let on. Aizen didn't make eye contact, instead he gripped his number four by the wrist with one hand and sipped more tea with the other. "She keeps her true emotions hidden, a clever defense she has learned quickly from her time spent in the world of the immortals. But I need her broken, Ulquiorra, do you understand? Only a vampire can know what it truly means to exist in pure despair, but I cannot turn her. I need her to be walking death. By whatever means necessary, Ulquiorra, you will achieve this."

"Yes, my lord," Ulquiorra replied.

Black tongues speak faster than the car can crash.  
You supply the rumors and I'll provide the wrath.  
Romance is breaking every heart in two.  
Casting shadows in the pale shade of blue.

Ichigo couldn't imagine a more stern man than Byakuya Kuchiki. Had it been an option, Ichigo was sure Captain Kuchiki would have pulled Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Rangiku, and Momo back by their hair all the way to the Seireitei. Byakuya remained silent during the long plain ride and then on the drive from the airport. Each time Ichigo made a move to challenge the impoliteness of the situation, Byakuya's Reiatsu would flare though he made no motion, and Ichigo would quiet himself. There was an ancient strength hidden below the calm surfaces of Byakukya Kuchiki, one that everyone knew better than to challenge.

Byakukya left all of them in a seemingly empty room for the moment as he keyed a hidden response into to his phone to an unknown recipient. Ichigo studied every move. Byakukya was a captain after all, there had to be something magnificent about him. Ichigo's muddled immortality came with a strange alter-being that was sometimes hard to suppress. Right now, his lesser half wanted nothing more than to take on the captain head first. He wanted to tear at his skin with his teeth gnashed or at the very least, cut off a limb or two. Ichigo had to calm this nature in his changed self, which wasn't easy, especially when it was constantly hungry or angry or horny.

Figuring he was the newest member, Ichigo wagered he could make the mistake of asking the stupid question among the eerie silence. "Okay, I'll be the jackass, why did you bring us back?"

"Because those were my orders," Byakuya replied. His voice was deep like a dark ocean.

"Screw your orders! I'm not going to rot here and wait for new orders while Orihime is in trouble. Just because you guys called off the search on her doesn't mean-"

"-Thank you, brother," Rukia interjected. Byakuya nodded then left. That was all.

The rest of the room appeared to be in on an inside joke, smiling at one another. "What the hell was that about?" Ichigo asked.

"My brother had orders to bring us back, and he did. This room, Ichigo," Rukia started, "is the Seireitei's private armory." She knocked twice on the wall north of the only door in the room. The wall fell back to expose a hallway that lead to an open warehouse full of every anti-immortal armament Ichigo could conceive. There were swords, gun, crossbows, neurotoxins, and night vision goggles. Renji rubbed his hands together like he was about to dig into a buffet. "You need a captain's clearance to enter the armory room."

"I don't understand any of this," Ichigo said with a sigh.

Rangiku pulled a heavy canvas vest over her chest. She knocked on it twice, signaling it was bullet proof. She then laughed at Ichigo's naivety. "You have much to learn about the interoffice communications around her. The head of the Seireitei probably _did_ order for us to be taken back so that we wouldn't go after Orihime, but his wording left interpretation. That comm-device Byakuya was using when we got in links him directly to the head. As far as the head is concerned we're here, and checked in, just as was ordered."

"But why would he wanna help?" asked Ichigo.

"Because believe it or not…my brother is a good person."

Plastic blue conversations in my room.  
Saving every tear for you.  
Trusting every word untrue.  
Twilight fading.

_January 1701_

"_Renji! Renji! Renji, where are you!" Rukia's voice scratched her throat from its hoarse nature. She called and called, but couldn't find her friend. It was almost dark. Once night fell, she wouldn't be able to make it home by herself. Renji was her protector, a vagrant such as herself, but at the age of twenty-three. He was strong and powerful, and had his face covered in tattoos from his years of traveling. He settled in the sewer slums to protect a young girl he found along the way. Rukia was ten years old. She had no family, no money, no last name. "Renji!" she called again. _

_Before she could gather the strength to shout again, a dirty hand slapped down on her mouth to hush her. "Quiet, Rukia," Renji whispered. Rukia's eyes widened when she tasted blood in her mouth. Through the faint light of the impending night, Rukia could see Renji had been bitten by something, leaving a gaping wound on his neck that bled down his shoulder to the palm of his grimy hands. _

_Careful footsteps came upon the wooded area where Rukia had been waiting for her friend. The man they belonged to was a slender built man with a blank expression on his face. Rukia noticed the blood dripping from his lips. She shuddered, thinking it could be Renji's. "You've stolen from me, boy," said the man._

"_Get away from here, you monster!" Renji shouted in return. Shielded behind his back, Renji kept an elaborately sculpted blade he had taken from the man's carriage in hopes of pawning it off for grocery money for him and Rukia. After he was caught, the owner took it upon himself to seek revenge and bit Renji along the neck. It was moments later, on the run, that Renji started feeling the effects of the venomous bite._

"_You'll be a monster too if you don't give me back that blade and let me take your life. It's the least I can do to help you."_

_Renji clamped his hand over the burning wound. "What have you done to me?"_

_Rukia couldn't sit still a moment longer. She slid through Renji's grip and latched onto the exposed hilt of the blade. In one swooping motion, she ran the blade across the stranger's torso, exposing bleeding flesh through the torn remains of his garment. Rukia and Renji watched in horror as the flesh fused back together almost instantly, healing the wound all together. "What are you!" Renji screamed._

"_The same thing you are," he replied. The man didn't look at Renji any more after that. Now he set his attention on Rukia. He offered her his hand, almost tenderly, but she knew better. "If you stay with him through the transition, he will kill you. If you come with me, I will teach you how to use that sword, and when the time is right, you can choose if you wish to join your friend again."_

_Rukia, caught in his supernatural trance, accepted his invitation as she placed her tiny hand in his._

_Renji's mind was fading fast, lost in the haze of the venom. Still, he managed to call out to the fleeing duo, "You will come back to me, Rukia! You're my only friend!"_

"_My name is Byakuya Kuchiki," the man said over his shoulder. "When the time is right, you will be ready to face me again."_

Fate changes faster than the death of light.  
You provide the envy and I'll provide the spite.  
Reflections cutting every face in two.  
Casting shadows in the pale shade of blue.


End file.
